Max Wolf 1863-1932
Max Wolf was born in Heidelberg, Germany on June 21 1863 and would
become a pioneer in astrophotography.
In 1910 Wolf proposed to the Carl Zeiss optics firm the
creation of a new instrument, now known as the planetarium.
Wolf co-discovered several comets and also co-discovered
four supernovae, working with E E Barneard, Max Wolf proved that dark nebulae of
the sky that astronomers believed to be ‘holes in the sky’ were huge clouds of
fine opaque dust.
He discovered 248 asteroids discovered the first was 323
Brucia on December 22 1891 the last being 5926 schonfeld.
Wolf applied astrophotography to the observation of stars.
In 1919 Wolf published a catalogue of the locations of over 1500 nearby stars. These stars are still commonly
identified by his name and catalogue number. Among the stars he discovered is
Wolf 359, a dim red dwarf that was later found to be one of the nearest stars
to our solar system. This catalogue is still
used by astronomers for astronomical research to this day.
Max Wolf died on October 3rd 1932.
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