Eduard Heis, an early pioneer in meteor research

Abstract

At the beginning of the 19th century, meteor observations were not well established. One of its pioneers, who observed meteors on a regular basis, was Eduard Heis in Münster, Germany. We summarise the life of this scientist. Besides his main task of teaching mathematics in Aachen and Münster, he observed atmospheric phenomena and variable stars with exceptional perseverance. He was an editor of Wochenschrift für Astronomie and contributed to the circulation of astronomical reports and knowledge. We focus on his contributions to meteor astronomy, in which he predated the work of Schiaparelli by 30 years.