Paul Herget (January 30, 1908 – August 27, 1981) was an American

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 director of the

Cincinnati Observatory The Cincinnati Observatory is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio (United States) on top of Mount Lookout, Ohio, Mount Lookout. It consists of two observatory buildings housing an 11-inch (28 cm) and 16 inch (41 cm) apertu ...

, who established the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

after World War II.

Career

Herget taught astronomy at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

. He was a pioneer in the use of machine methods, and eventually digital computers, in the solving of scientific and specifically astronomical problems (for example, in the calculation of

ephemeris In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (pl. ephemerides; ) is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects as well as artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position (and possibly vel ...

tables for

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). During World War II he applied these same talents to the war effort, helping to locate U-boats by means of the application of

spherical trigonometry Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the metrical relationships between the sides and angles of spherical triangles, traditionally expressed using trigonometric functions. On the sphere, geodesics are gr ...

. Herget established the

at the university after the war in 1947. He was also named director of the

. The Minor Planet Center was eventually relocated in 1978 to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it still operates.

Awards and honors

* In 1965 he was awarded the

James Craig Watson Medal 400px, James Craig Watson Medal The James Craig Watson Medal was established by the bequest of James Craig Watson, an astronomer the University of Michigan between 1863 and 1879, and is awarded every 1-4 years by the U.S. National Academy of Scien ...

by the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

for, "his scientific accomplishments in celestial mechanics and orbit computation, and particularly for his contributions to the knowledge of the orbits of asteroids". * Asteroid 1751 Herget, discovered by astronomers with the

Indiana Asteroid Program The Indiana Asteroid Program was a photographic astronomical survey of asteroids during 1949–1967, at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana. The program was initiated by Frank K. Edmondson of Indiana University using a 10-inc ...

Goethe Link Observatory The Goethe Link Observatory, observatory code 760, is an astronomical observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States. It is owned by Indiana University and operated by the Indiana Astronomical Society https://iasindy.org/about.html, which eff ...

in 1955, was named in his honor. The official was published by the

on February 20, 1971 (). * On August 1, 1978, asteroid

1755 Lorbach 1755 Lorbach, provisional designation , is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 25 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 November 1936, by French astronomer Marguerite Laugier at Nice Observato ...

, discovered by

Marguerite Laugier Marguerite Laugier (née Lhomme) (12 September 1896 – 10 June 1976) was a French 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 ob ...

at Nice in 1936, was , Anne Lorbach Herget ().

Publication of discovery circumstances

In the 1950s and 1960s,

Paul Herget Paul Herget (January 30, 1908 – August 27, 1981) was an American astronomer and director of the Cincinnati Observatory, who established the Minor Planet Center after World War II. Career Herget taught astronomy at the University of Cincinna ...

compiled a large number of naming citations for minor planets, giving the discovery circumstances as well as background information on the name's origin and on the involved astronomers. His collected work is known as ''The Names of the Minor Planets'' and was published by the

in 1955 and 1968. The last publication contains details of the discovery and naming of 1,564 minor planets up to the height of WWII in 1943, and spans from the first discovered minor planet,

1 Ceres Ceres (; minor-planet designation: 1 Ceres) is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was the first asteroid discovered, on 1 January 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sic ...

, up to

1564 Srbija 1564 Srbija (), provisional designation , is a dark asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 36 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 October 1936, by Serbian astronomer Milorad Protić at the Belgrade Astrono ...

. Herget's discovery circumstances were later incorporated into the ''Dictionary of Minor Planet Names'', which was prepared by astronomer

Lutz Schmadel Lutz Dieter Schmadel (2 July 1942, in Berlin – 21 October 2016) was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of asteroids, who worked at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut (ARI) of the University of Heidelberg. His special interest was t ...

on behalf of

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

's commission 20. In this work, citations that origin from Herget's original compilation are marked with the letter "H" and the corresponding page number.

References

External links

PaulHerget.org

at Columbia University Computing History

* ttp://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/herget-paul.pdf Paul Herget 1908 - 1981. A Biographical Memoir by Donald E. Ostertbrock and P. Kenneth SeidelmannNational Academy of Sciences) {{DEFAULTSORT:Herget, Paul 1908 births 1981 deaths American astronomers Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Cincinnati alumni University of Cincinnati faculty

Career

Awards and honors

Publication of discovery circumstances

See also

References

External links