Johann Franz Bessel [SEP] position held
Johann Franz Bessel
Johann Franz Bessel (in religion Gottfried) (b. 5 September 1672, at Buchen, in the Grand Duchy of Baden; d. at Göttweig, 22 January 1749) was a German Benedictine abbot and historian.
Life.
He made his course in the humanities at Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, and Bamberg, and in 1690 entered the University of Salzburg, conducted by the Benedictines, where he specialized in philosophy, also attending lectures on theology and jurisprudence. He entered the Benedictine Order at Göttweig on the
its founding; in that year the Academy lost its calendar privileges and became dependent on the state budget and on charity.
When the time came to seek a successor by virtue of Bode's retirement, both Carl Friedrich Gauß and Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel turned the post down. On the recommendation of Bessel, Johann Franz Encke, since 1822 Director of the Seeberg Observatory near Gotha, was called to Berlin by King Frederick William III in 1825 and named director of the Berlin Observatory. Thanks to the influence of Alexander von Humboldt,