Heinrich wilhelm olbers biography

German astronomer (1758–1840)

"Olbers" redirects here. For other uses, see Olbers (disambiguation).

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (; German:[ˈɔlbɐs]; 11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840) was a German astronomer. He found a convenient method of calculating the orbit of comets, and in 1802 and 1807, discovered the second and the fourth asteroids Pallas and Vesta.

Life and career

Olbers was born in Arbergen, Germany, today part of Bremen, and studied to be a physician at Göttingen (1777–80). While he was at Göttingen, he studied mathematics with Abraham Gotthelf Kästner. In 1779, while attending to a sick fellow student, he devised a method of calculating cometary orbits which made an epoch in the treatment of the subject,^[1] as it was the first satisfactory method of calculating cometary orbits. After his graduation in 1780, he began practicing medicine in Bremen. At night he dedicated his time to astronomical observ