Schwassmann, Friedrich Karl Arnold

Born Hamburg, (Germany), 25 March 1870

Died Hamburg, (Germany), 19 January 1964

German observational astronomer Friedrich Schwassmann, eponymized in several comets, graduated in 1891 after studies at Leipzig, Berlin, and Göttingen universities. He initially held short-term appointments at the observatories in Potsdam (1893–1895), Göttingen (1896/1897), and Heidelberg (1897–1901), where he worked under the supervision of Maximilian Wolf . Schwassmann spent the next 2 years at the institute for testing of chronometers of the German Maritime Observatory, and the rest of his life connected with the observatory in Hamburg-Bergedorf. He was appointed as an observer in 1902 and retired in 1934, but continued work as a volunteer for the next 25 years and frequently attended seminars and lectures at the observatory.

Schwassmann is remembered largely for the comets he discovered together with his younger assistant Arno Wachmann from 1927 onward, including three short-period comets – 29P/1927...