Baron Wilhelm von Biela

Who was Baron Wilhelm von Biela?

Baron Wilhelm von Biela was a German-Austrian military officer and amateur astronomer.

Wilhelm von Biela was born in Roßla, Harz. He was a descendant of a prominent Protestant noble family originally from what is now the Czech Republic, the family having been exiled to Saxony after its head, Friedrich von Biela, was executed in Prague in 1621 during the religious wars of the period. Biela was the last member of his branch of the family.

After study at military college in Dresden, Biela joined the Austrian army in 1802, serving as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment 'Graf Stuart' Nr. 18. He rose to the rank of a captain of Grenadiers and participated in a number of military campaigns against Napoleon between 1805, 1809 and later on. In 1813 he was an Adjutant to General Merveldt at the Battle of Leipzig, where he was wounded.

In 1815 Biela went to Prague, where he commenced study of astronomy under Marin Alois David. He later served in Italy and was appointed the commandant of the town of Rovigo.

In the field of astronomy, he specialized in observing and calculating the orbits of comets. He also did some sunspot observations and published a series of articles, mostly in the Astronomische Nachrichten, on subjects such as comets, the theoretical considerations of comets "falling into the Sun", Tycho Brahe, and occultations of stars by the Moon. He also published a longer work on planetary rotation, Die zweite grosse Weltenkraft, nebst Ideen über einige Geheimnisse der physischen Astronomie, oder Andeutungen zu einer Theorie der Tangentialkraft. In its preface he stated that although the work was the fruit of many years of study, it could be read through in half an hour.