Johann Palisa (6 December 1848 – 2 May 1925) was an Austrian astronomer, born in Troppau, Austrian Silesia (now Opava, Czech Republic). He is best known as a prolific discoverer of asteroids, having discovered 122 in total between 1874 and 1923, from 136 Austria to 1073 Gellivara.
Early life and education
Palisa studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Vienna from 1866 to 1870, though he did not formally graduate until 1884. By 1870 he was already working as an assistant at the university's observatory, and a year later he gained a position at the observatory in Geneva.
Career
In 1872, at the age of 24, Palisa became the director of the Austrian Naval Observatory in Pula (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). While there, he discovered his first asteroid, 136 Austria, on 18 March 1874, using a small six-inch refractor telescope. He remained director of the Pula observatory until 1880, during which time he discovered twenty-seven minor planets and one comet.
In 1880, Palisa moved to the new Vienna Observatory, where he continued his observational work. In 1883, he joined a French expedition to Caroline Island to observe the solar eclipse of 6 May 1883, during which he also participated in observations searching for the hypothetical planet Vulcan and collected insect samples for the Vienna Museum of Natural History. He named the asteroid 235 Carolina in memory of this expedition.
In 1908, Palisa became vice director of the Vienna Observatory. He retired from administrative duties in 1919 but retained observation rights and continued discovering asteroids until 1923.
Asteroid discoveries
Palisa discovered 122 asteroids, including several notable ones: 153 Hilda, 216 Kleopatra, 243 Ida, 253 Mathilde, 324 Bamberga, and the near-Earth asteroid 719 Albert. His discovery of 253 Mathilde is particularly significant, as that asteroid was later visited by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft on 27 June 1997.
Palisa made all of his asteroid discoveries through visual observation, without the aid of photography. Even after Max Wolf introduced photographic techniques for asteroid discovery in the 1890s, Palisa continued to rely on visual methods. His final discovery, 1073 Gellivara, was the last asteroid ever found visually. He remains the most successful visual (non-photographic) asteroid discoverer of all time.
Collaboration and publications
Palisa collaborated with Max Wolf to create the first star atlas produced from photographic plates, the Palisa–Wolf Sternkarten (Palisa-Wolf Star Maps), published in 1899, 1902, and 1908. In 1908, he also published the Sternenlexikon, mapping the skies from declinations −1° to +19°. He additionally prepared two catalogs containing the positions of nearly 4,700 stars.
Honors and legacy
Palisa was awarded the Lalande Prize in 1876 and the Valz Prize from the French Academy of Sciences in 1906. The asteroid 914 Palisana, discovered by Max Wolf in 1919, and the lunar crater Palisa were named in his honor. Minor planet 1152 Pawona is named after both Palisa and Wolf, combining elements of their names.
Several asteroids he discovered were named posthumously for personal qualities associated with him: 902 Probitas (adherence to principles), 975 Perseverantia (perseverance), and 996 Hilaritas (a happy, contented mind). He also named asteroids after family members, including 320 Katharina (his mother), 321 Florentina (his daughter), and 734 Benda (his second wife, Anna Benda).
Palisa died on 2 May 1925 in Vienna, Austria.
