Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
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Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters (September 19, 1813 – July 18, 1890) was an American astronomer, and one of the first to discover asteroids. Not to be confused with the German astronomer Christian August Friedrich Peters (1806–1880).
He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, then part of Denmark but later part of Germany, and later studied under Carl Friedrich Gauss. He spoke many languages and spent time in Italy and Ottoman Turkey before going to the United States in 1854.
Working in Clinton, New York (near Utica), he was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, discovering 48 of them, beginning with 72 Feronia in 1861 and ending with 287 Nephthys in 1889.
He was involved in litigation in 1889 with his former assistant Charles A. Borst, and the "Great Star-Catalog Case" Peters v. Borst went before the Supreme Court of New York. The judge sided with Peters, but many astronomers and newspapers sided with Borst. Peters died not long after. After his death, the judgement was ultimately reversed on appeal and a new trial was ordered, but it never took place.
Besides asteroids, he co-discovered the periodic comet 80P/Peters-Hartley, and also discovered various nebulae and galaxies.
External links
- Biography (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/cpeters.html)de:Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters