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Newcomb, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Newcomb, Simon no͞oˈkəm, nyo͞oˈ– [key], 1835–1909, American astronomer, b. Nova Scotia, grad. Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard, 1858. Living in the United States from 1853, he was appointe...

Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus

(Encyclopedia)Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus hīnˈrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm mätĕˈo͝os ôlˈbərs [key], 1758–1840, German astronomer and physician. He originated (1797) the first satisfactory method for calculat...

Lovell, Sir Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Lovell, Sir Bernard (Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell), 1913–2012, English radio astronomer, b. Oldland Common, Gloucestershire, England, Ph.D. Univ. of Bristol, 1936. He was a member of the cosmic...

Brahe, Tycho

(Encyclopedia)Brahe, Tycho tīˈkō brä [key], 1546–1601, Danish astronomer. The most prominent astronomer of the late 16th cent., he paved the way for future discoveries by improving instruments and by his prec...

Donati, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Donati, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä dōnäˈtē [key], 1826–73, Italian astronomer, b. Pisa. Serving as director of the Florence Observatory from 1864, he was a pioneer in the spec...

Amici, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Amici, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä ämēˈchē [key], 1786–1863, Italian astronomer, mathematician, and naturalist. He became director of the observatory and professor of astronomy...

Hagen, Johannes Georg

(Encyclopedia)Hagen, Johannes Georg yōhäˈnəs gāˈôrk häˈgən [key], 1847–1930, American astronomer and mathematician, b. Austria. A Jesuit, he came in 1880 to the United States to teach. In 1888 he was ma...

Kapteyn, Jacobus Cornelius

(Encyclopedia)Kapteyn, Jacobus Cornelius yäkōˈbəs kôrnāˈlēəs käptīnˈ [key], 1851–1922, Dutch astronomer. He was an authority on the Milky Way, of which he made notable statistical studies; he construc...

Schwabe, Samuel Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Schwabe, Samuel Heinrich zäˈmo͞oĕl hīnˈrĭkh shväbˈə [key], 1789–1875, German apothecary and amateur astronomer. In the hope of discovering a new planet between Mercury and the sun, he made...

Peirce, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Peirce, Benjamin, 1809–80, American mathematician and astronomer, b. Salem, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1829. From 1833 he was a professor at Harvard; he helped establish the Harvard Observatory and was a...