A hand-painted globe of Mars was recently acquired for the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The globe was created by Emmy Ingeborg Brun. Ingeborg Brun was born in Copenhagen in 1872. She was a socialist and a self-taught astronomer; her father did not allow her to attend a university. Ingeborg was fascinated by the theories of the astronomers Giovanni Schiaparelli and Percival Lowell.
A Martian opposition occurs when the earth is located directly between the sun and Mars, making Mars more visible. During the Great Martian Opposition of 1877, Giovanni Schiaparelli stated that the surface of Mars was covered with lines which he named canali. Based on Schiaparelli’s observations, Percival Lowell believed that canals may have been constructed by a Martian civilization. Lowell authored three books about the possibility of life on Mars: Mars and its canals, Mars as the abode of life and Mars.
Ingeborg Brun’s hand-painted globes were based on Percival Lowell’s maps of Mars. Below is an image of a map created by Percival Lowell.
Ingeborg Brun coated an existing terrestrial globe with plaster, then applied papier-mâché. She painted over the papier-mâché surface with ink and paint. Ingeborg Brun donated her globes to various observatories and institutions, approximately eight to ten of the globes exist today. The images below are of the globe held in the Geography and Map Division.
In addition to the writings by Schiaparelli and Lowell, Brun was also fascinated with the theories of the American political scientist and journalist Henry George. George’s book Progress and poverty: an inquiry into the cause of industrial depressions… included an in-depth analysis about the coexistence of poverty with advancements in economics and technology. Inspired by George’s theories, Ingeborg Brun believed that Mars could be a possible site for a socialist utopia.
Two handmade booklets are filed with the globe. The booklets contain eight photographs. Six of the photos are of Ingeborg Brun’s globe of Mars. Two of the photographs are of an annotated world globe. Lines representing a nonexistent canal network were drawn on the globe. The globe was marked with the canal system to show that Kaiser Wilhelm’s goal was to increase Germany’s naval strength. Ms. Brun labeled the lines “Kaiser Wilhelm’s Canal.” The words “Willy’s Dream will you better fulfill allies!” were written above one of the photographs; the words “Free Land…Free Trade…Free Men” and “The Raw Product” were written beneath it.
Ingeborg’s older brother Alf Harald Brun committed her to a psychiatric hospital. After spending nine years at the hospital Ingeborg Brun finally convinced the staff that she was not mentally ill. She was 38 years old when she was released. After suffering from poor health for most of her life she passed away in 1929 at the age of 56.
Historically, women have been underrepresented in the field of astronomy; however, the percentage of women astronomers continues to grow. Sadly, Ingeborg Brun was denied a higher education; through knowledge that she acquired on her own she produced some remarkable globes.
Source: https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2024/08/a-work-of-art-ingeborg-bruns-manuscript-globe/
