Palisa, Johann

Johann Palisa, (born Dec. 6, 1848, Troppau, Silesia [now Opava, Czech Republic]—died May 2, 1925, Vienna, Austria), Silesian astronomer best known for his discovery of 120 asteroids. He also prepared two catalogs containing the positions of almost 4,700 stars.

Palisa briefly was an assistant astronomer at the observatories in Vienna and Geneva before being appointed director (1872–80) of the Austro-Hungarian naval observatory at Pola (now Pula, Croatia), a position that carried with it the rank of commander. From 1880 to 1919 he was a member of the staff at the Vienna Observatory. By 1891, when the photographic plate was first used in astronomy, he had found 83 of the 120 asteroids he eventually identified by visual observation alone. His star catalogs were published in 1899, 1902, and 1908.