Paul Götz (1883–1962) was a German

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and discoverer of 20

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

s between 1903 and 1905. He did his Ph.D. dissertation in 1907 at the ''Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl'' (Königstuhl Observatory, near Heidelberg) at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. At the time, the observatory at Heidelberg was a center for

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. ...

discovery under the direction of

Max Wolf Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (21 June 1863 – 3 October 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was the chairman of astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and director of the Heidelberg-K� ...

, and several past and future fellow Ph.D.s (

Raymond Smith Dugan Raymond Smith Dugan (May 30, 1878 – August 31, 1940) was an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets. His parents were Jeremiah Welby and Mary Evelyn Smith and he was born in Montague in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. His undergr ...

, Joseph Helffrich,

Franz Kaiser Franz Heinrich Kaiser (25 April 1891 – 13 March 1962) was a German astronomer. He worked at the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl, Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory from 1911 to 1914 while working on his Ph.D. there, which he obtained i ...

Karl Reinmuth Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth (4 April 1892 in Heidelberg – 6 May 1979 in Heidelberg) was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of 395 minor planets. Scientific career From 1912 to 1957, Reinmuth was working as an astronomer at the Lande ...

Emil Ernst Emil Ernst (6 June 1889– 26 June 1942) was a German astronomer and discoverer of a minor planet. He did his PhD dissertation in 1918 at the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl (Heidelberg Observatory) at the Ruprecht Karl University of ...

, Alfred Bohrmann) made a number of asteroid discoveries. Thus the asteroid discoveries by "P. Gotz" at Heidelberg in this time frame are undoubtedly identified with the Paul Götz who got his Ph.D. in 1907. The

main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

asteroid 2278 Götz was named in his memory in 1991 ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gotz, Paul Discoverers of asteroids * 20th-century German astronomers