Giuseppe Piazzi


Piazzi, Giuseppe

 

Born July 16, 1746, in Ponte di Valtel-lina; died July 22, 1826, in Naples. Italian astronomer.

Piazzi was appointed a professor at the University of Palermo in 1780 and became the first director of the observatory at Palermo in 1791. In 1801 he discovered the first known asteroid —Ceres. He compiled two star catalogs (1803, 1814).

REFERENCE

Clerke, A. Obshchedostupnaia istoriia astronomii v XIX stoletii. Odessa, 1913. (Translated from English.)