Lamont, Johann von

Lamont, Johann von (yō`hän fən lä`mônt), 1805–79, Scottish-German astronomer and magnetician, b. Scotland. In 1817 he went to Ratisbon to study at the seminary. He remained in Germany to work in the new observatory at Bogenhausen. Lamont became its director in 1835 and professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Munich in 1852. His most important work was in the field of terrestrial magnetism; he made (1849–58) magnetic surveys in Bavaria, France, Spain, N Germany, and Denmark. In 1850 he announced the theory of the magnetic decennial period and in 1862 the discovery of earth currents. In astronomy he cataloged 34,674 stars, measured nebulae and clusters, and made studies of Uranus. Lamont is the author of Handbuch des erdmagnetismus (1849).