'''Johannes Hevel''' (tudi '''Johann Hewelke, Hewelcke''', poljsko '''Jan Heweliusz''', nemško '''Johannes Hewel''', pa tudi Hevelius, Hevelij), poljski  astronom, * 28. januar 1611, Danzig, (sedaj Gdansk, Poljska), † 28. januar 1687, Danzig.

== Življenje in delo ==

Hevel se je rodil v družini bogatih trgovcev s češkega porekla.

Od leta Univerzi v Leidnu. Po potovanju po Evropi se je leta ženo zanimal za astronomijo.

Na svojem domu je leta Lune in je prvi izdal njeno celotno karto, ki je bila najboljša naslednjih sto let.

Med leti Sončeve pege.

Odkril je libracijo Lune v longitudi, kar je leta 1647 v Gdansku objavil v knjigi ''Topografija Lune'' (''Selenographia, seu descriptio Lunae''). Tako velja za začetnika raziskovanja lunine topografije. 

thumb|right|200px|[[Peter Crüger|Crügerjev azimutalni kvadrant, ki ga je dokončal Hevel]]
thumb|right|200px|Hevelova ''[[Karta Lune'' ]]

Bil je navdušen nad poimenovanjem nebesnih teles. Na svoji ''Karti Lune'' je zbral okoli 250 imen, ki so bila zelo drugačna od tistih, ki jih je zapisal pred njim van Langren. Hevel je ubral povsem svojo pot. Na Luno je prenesel geografska imena z Zemlje. Pri tem je dal prednost antičnim lastnim geografskim imenom. Na njegovi karti najdemo na primer Pontus Euxinus, kar je antično ime za gore, doline, hrbti, razpoke, brazde. Najpomembnejši pa so zagotovo latinsko pomeni grške in pomeni čaša. 

V delu ''Historiola Mirae stellae'' je leta spremenljive zvezde, ki jo je sam poimenoval Mira (''čudovita'') (&omicron; Kita (Ceti)).

V njegovi knjigi ''Prodromus astronomiae'' iz leta 1664 (izdana posmrtno 1690) se je prvič
pojavilo Mali lev (Leo Minor). 

right|thumb|Johannes Hevelius, by [[Daniel Schultz]]
thumb|[[Peter Crüger's azimuthal quadrant, completed by Hevelius.]]
thumb|Hevelius' [[map of the moon.]]
'''Johannes Hevelius''' (German, or ''Jan Heweliusz'' (in Polish), (Danzig (Gdańsk), (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.) As an <!-- no POV statements here! --> astronomer he gained the reputation of "''the founder of lunar topography''". 

==Early life==
Hevelius' father was Abraham Hewelke (1576-1649), his mother Kordula Hecker (1576-1655). They were a family of wealthy brewing St. Mary's church is located.

After ''gymnasium'', where he was taught by Leiden, then traveled in England and France, meeting Pierre Gassendi, Marin Mersenne and Athanasius Kircher. In 1634 he settled in his native town, and on March 21, 1635, married Katharine Rebeschke, a neighbor two years younger who  owned two adjacent houses. The following year, Hevelius became a member of the beer brewing guild, which he led from 1643 onwards.

==Professional life==
Throughout his life, Hevelius took a leading part in administration, becoming ''Ratsherr'' (town councillor) in 1651 and later mayor of Danzig; but from 1639 onward his chief interest became centered in astronomy. In 1641 he built an observatory on the roofs of his three connected houses, equipping it with splendid instruments, including ultimately a tubeless telescope of 45 m (150 ft.) focal length, constructed by himself.

This private observatory was visited by Polish Queen Maria Gonzaga on 29 January  1660, and in 1678 by Polish King John III Sobieski. In May 1679, the young Englishman Edmund Halley visited him as emissary of the Royal Society. Hevelius had been a member (''fellow'') since 1664. M. Czerniakowska believes that [http://liber.150m.com/ ''Jan Heweliusz was the first Pole included'']. 

Halley had been instructed by telescopes, yet Hevelius demonstrated that he could do well with only quadrant and alidade. He is thus considered the last astronomer to do major work without lenses.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=QhjRFox0mKYC&pg=PA414&ots=CKygx0mGr0&dq=%2Bhevelius+%2Bdanzig&sig=UFIMY-R_iikjNUN5bIelFzEhwfw#PPA414,M1 Daintith, John, ''Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists'', CRC Books, 1994, ISBN 0750302879] at Google Books</ref>

Hevelius made observations of sunspots, 1642–1645, devoted four years to charting the lunar surface, discovered the Moon's libration in longitude, and published his results in ''Selenographia sive Lunae Descriptio'' (1647), a work which entitles him to be called "the founder of lunar topography."

He discovered four comets, in 1652, 1661 (probably Ikeya-Zhang), 1672 and 1677. These discoveries led to his thesis that such bodies revolve around the Sun in parabolic paths. 

A ''Halophänomen'' was observed by many in Danzig and described by Hevelius to pastor Georg Fehlau of St. Mary's church, titled ''Siebenfältiges Sonnenwunder oder sieben Nebensonnen, so in diesem 1661 Jahr den 20. Februar neuen Stils am Sonntage Sexagesima um 11 Uhr bis nach 12 am Himmel bei uns sind gesehen worden''. 

Katharine, his first wife, died in 1662, and a year later Hevelius married Elisabeth Koopmann, the young daughter of a merchant family. The couple had four children. Elisabeth supported him, published two of his works after his death, and is considered the first female astronomer.

His observatory, instruments and books were maliciously destroyed by fire on September 26, 1679. The catastrophe is described in the preface to his ''Annus climactericus'' (1685). He promptly repaired the damage, so far as to enable him to observe the great comet of December 1680. He named the constellation ''Sextans'' in memory of these lost instruments. His health had suffered from the shock, and he died on his 76th birthday, January 28, 1687. Hevelius was buried in St. Catherine's Church in Danzig.