‘Een procesverbaal van verhoor’

Abstract

'A record of interrogation' This paper describes the influence of the leading Dutch astronomer in the nineteenth century, Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872), on the use of statistical methods in astronomy. In the absence of existing research traditions Kaiser modelled his investigations after the example set by Struve and Bessel. In this process statistical methods were introduced as a matter of course. Moreover, these methods were employed by Kaiser to introduce new regulations and standards in observational practice which throughout the nineteenth century dominated Dutch astronomical research. The analysis of the observational data thus became what Anton Pannekoek in his History of Astronomy (1951) called 'a record of interrogation'.