Maria Clara Eimmart Facts for Kids

Maria Clara Eimmart (born May 27, 1676 – died October 29, 1707) was a talented German astronomer, engraver, and designer. She was the daughter and assistant of Georg Christoph Eimmart the Younger, who was also a well-known astronomer.

About Maria Clara Eimmart
Astronomical Drawings
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About Maria Clara Eimmart

Maria Clara Eimmart was born in Nuremberg, Germany. Her father, Georg Christoph Eimmart the Younger, was a painter, engraver, and amateur astronomer. He was also in charge of the Nuremberg Academy of Art from 1699 to 1704. Maria Clara's grandfather, Georg Christoph Eimmart the Elder, was also an engraver and painter.

Maria Clara's father earned a good living from his art. However, he spent most of his money buying special tools for astronomy and building his own observatory in 1678. This observatory was built right on the Nuremberg city wall! He was a very dedicated observer of the sky and shared his findings in many scientific papers.

Because of the strong tradition of crafts in Germany, Maria Clara had a special chance to learn from her father. She became his apprentice. Through him, she gained a wide education. She learned French, Latin, mathematics, astronomy, drawing, and engraving. Her amazing skills as an engraver helped her assist her father with his work. She became especially famous for her detailed drawings of the different phases of the Moon. She also drew flowers, birds, and classical scenes, but sadly, most of these drawings are now lost.

In 1706, Maria Clara married Johann Heinrich Muller. He was her father’s student and later took over as the director of the Eimmart observatory in 1705. Muller also taught physics at a school in Nuremberg, and Maria Clara helped him there. Her husband was so inspired by the Eimmart family's love for astronomy that he became a dedicated amateur astronomer himself. He later became a professor and used Maria Clara's help to draw comets, sun-spots, and lunar mountains.

During their early marriage, they worked with other astronomers and writers. In 2012, two of Maria Clara's paintings of a total solar eclipse were discovered. This eclipse was seen in Nuremberg in 1706. These paintings were thought to be lost for a long time. They match written descriptions of the event very well and are now very important for science. They show the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, during a time when there were very few sunspots.

Sadly, Maria Clara Eimmart died in Nuremberg just one year after her marriage, after giving birth to a child.

Astronomical Drawings

Maria Clara Eimmart is best known for her very accurate astronomical drawings. She made these drawings using light-colored pastels on dark blue cardboard.

Between 1693 and 1698, Maria Clara created over 350 drawings of the Moon's phases. These drawings were all made by observing the Moon through a telescope. This collection was called Micrographia stellarum phases lunae ultra 300. She gave twelve of these drawings to Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, who worked with her father. Ten of these drawings still exist in Bologna, along with three smaller studies on brown paper. Maria Clara's continuous series of Moon drawings helped create a new map of the Moon.

In 1706, she also made two drawings of the total eclipse that happened in Nuremberg. There are also some of her drawings of planets and comets.

Some people have suggested that Maria Clara published a work called Ichnographia nova contemplationum de sole in 1701 under her father’s name. However, there is no clear proof that this work was hers and not her father's.