Winnecke, Friedrich August Theodor
Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke (February 5, 1835 ““ December 3, 1897) was German astronomer born in a small village outside of Hannover.
Much of his career, 1858 ““ 1865, he worked at Pulkovo Astronomical Oberservatory located just south of St. Petersburg. In 1872, he returned to Germany and worked at Strasbourg as Professor of Astronomy until 1881.
He is accredited with the discovery or co-discovery of numerous comets. The most notable of these is the periodic comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke and also the comet once known as “Pons-Coggia-Winnecke-Forbes” but was later renamed to 27P/Crommelin in honor of the man who computed its orbit, Andrew Crommelin.
In his work, Winnecke compiled a list of double stars and located many nubulae.
He died in Bonn, Germany in 1897.