Charles P. de Saint-Aignan (born 16 February 1977, Paris) is an American software engineer who works for IBM on the IBM Watson project. He graduated from

St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire) St. Paul's School (also known as St. Paul's or SPS) is a highly selective college- preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. It is often regarded as one of the most elite boardi ...

, in 1995, followed by

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

( Providence, Rhode Island), in 1999. In 1994, de Saint-Aignan worked for Ted Bowell at

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

, where he discovered a number of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

s. He named his first discovery,

8710 Hawley __NOTOC__ Year 871 ( DCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * The English retreat onto the Berkshire Downs. The Great Heathen Army, led by ...

, after Walter N. Hawley, who was his high school physics and astronomy teacher. The minor planet 5995 Saint-Aignan was named in de Saint-Aignan's honor on the occasion of his 20th birthday.

References

1977 births Living people 20th-century American astronomers American software engineers Brown University alumni Discoverers of asteroids * IBM employees Scientists from Paris {{US-astronomer-stub