Wolfram Voight

Wolfram Voight von Juno Astrologist • Engineering • Alchemist
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Personal Details
Born		Early 1480 Juno
Died		1544 tbd
Nationality		Junoan
Cause of Death		Infection of the kidneys and bladder
Nicknames
Royal astronomer
In Office
1539 - 1544
Preceded by		Office established
Succeeded by		Reinhard Kasel von Esia

Wolfram Voight von Juno was a Zokesian astronomer, engineer, writer, and alchemist of the Georgian Rennaissance, known for his accurate astronomical observations, many of which were made without a telescope. He is known as one of, if not the best astronomer of his time and his name is immortalised by Voight's comet, which he helped to discover.

Life

Early years

Voight was born into nobility and was raised in Juno's high society. Many of his relatives had served in the Zokesian king's court, including his father Frederick Voight von Juno. His mother Kristen Rommel was a landowner and figure in local politics.

Voight was born in early 1480 in an estate just north of Juno. He was the oldest of six siblings, four of which survived to adulthood. At age 14 he moved to begin studies at the University of Ezekialgrad, where he pursued law as per family wishes, but also studied a variety of other subjects and developed his own interests in astronomy and engineering.

It is said he participated in at least twenty duels during his time there

Astralaschloss

While his parents wished him to become a civil servant, Voight was interested primarily in astronomy and alchemy. His parents respected his wishes and allowed him to pursue his interests, and he went on to construct Astralaschloss in the countryside far north of Ezekialgrad in 1502, the last purpose-built observatory in Kolus to not feature a telescope in it's initial plans. It is here Voight's comet was observed in 1510 alongside his mentees, who would work to predict it's orbit until after Voight's death, finally being proven by his student Reinhard Kasel von Esia through compiling of previous historical records. Kasel named the comet in honour of his mentor.

Final years and Death

In 1521 Voight was gifted a miniature harn from the late King George 5th, and he is said to have loved it very much. This led to a conflict in 1528, where a nobleman by the name of Ritter Bydermann kicked the harn, incensing Voight with rage, who personally hurled Bydermann out of Astralaschloss.

This would have been a completely unrelated incident if it wasn't that Bydermann happened to be a personal acquantance and political ally of Edward of Notilian, who would seize the throne after the death of heir to the throne George VI. Still holding a grudge, Bydermann convinced Edward to go after Voight, who fled the country along with his pupils and vast wealth. He would never return to Zokesia, which was caught in a cycle of political violence and civil war for the rest of his life.

Hearing news of his exile, representatives of the Ra'an dynasty invited him to come to Tekkia, settling in modern day Phoezia and becoming the official Royal astronomer. But this position would not be for long, as his already ailing health had been compromised further by drinking contaminated water in his hurried flight. He perished in 1544 due to an infection of the kidneys and bladder, likely the result of a long lasting waterborne pathogen.

Career

Voight's accomplishments were mainly driven by the desire to acquire accurate observations. This quest for improved instruments drove him to invent many devices himself, and later when the astronomical telescope was invented he pioneered the early usage of this device.

Stars

Throughout his life, Voight discovered 434 stars, as many as half of these being done without a telescope.

Voight was a believer in the kerbin-centric solar system model, believing Kerbin was simply too heavy due to it's elemental makeup to shift around as easily as the stars or other planets did. His records of the movement of the planets however provided evidence against the kerbincentric model, which would be used by later astronomers as evidence for further study. Only a century after his death enough evidence accrued to make a heliocentric model consensus.

Comets & other small objects

In his later years when a telescope was added to Astralaschloss, Voight attempted to observe smaller objects as well. He reasoned the celestial element Aether should also possess at least some weight, and thus a suitably large enough celestial object might possess enough to keep another one in it's orbit, much like how Kerbin was able to keep two objects in it's orbit by being made of the heavier elements like water and air.

The only candidate he thought could do this would be Jool. In 1539 he attempted to observe for Jool's moons, though he failed to detect any. He did note down a number of stars which appeared to stay in a mostly static location, but would fluctuate by their exact location. He concluded little of these anecdotes, though these notes inspired later astronomers to look to Jool for similar theoretical moons, eventually culminating in the discovery of Tylo and Laythe.