Johan Willem Jakob Antoon Stein (27 February 1871–27 December 1951) was a Dutch astronomer and a member of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. He was born in

Grave, Netherlands Grave (; formerly ''De Graaf'') is a city and former municipality in the Dutch province of North Brabant. The former municipality had a population of in . Grave is a member of the Dutch Association of Fortified Cities. The former municipality ...

and spend his youth in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. In 1894 he finished a course of ecclesiastical philosophy, then studied astronomy at the

University of Leyden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. His doctoral dissertation was on the Horrebow method for determining latitude. By the time he received his doctorate in 1901, he had begun teaching physics and math at the St. Willebrord College of

Katwijk Katwijk (), also spelled Katwyk, is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland, which is situated in the mid-western part of the Netherlands. The Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine") river flows through the town and into the North ...

. He was ordained to priesthood in Maastricht, 1903. From 1906–1910 he served as an assistant at the

Vatican Observatory The Vatican Observatory () is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, the Observatory is now headquartered in Castel Gandolfo, Italy and operates a telescope a ...

. Thereafter he joined St. Ignatius College in Amsterdam, where he taught math and science for the next twenty years. In 1922 he became a member of the I.A.U. Commissions for Variable Stars. After 1924, he joined the Association of Dutch Amateur Astronomers. In 1930 he became director of the Vatican Observatory. He was responsible for the modernization of the observatory, as well as its relocation to

Castel Gandolfo Castel Gandolfo (, , ; la, Castrum Gandulphi), colloquially just Castello in the Castelli Romani dialects, is a town located southeast of Rome in the Lazio region of Italy. Occupying a height on the Alban Hills overlooking Lake Albano, Caste ...

in 1933. He died in Rome, Italy.

Queen Juliana Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. S ...

made him a knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands. The crater

Stein Stein is a German, Yiddish and Norwegian word meaning "stone" and "pip" or "kernel". It stems from the same Germanic root as the English word stone. It may refer to: Places In Austria * Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Au ...

on the far side of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

is named after him.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Johan 1871 births 1951 deaths 20th-century Dutch astronomers Leiden University alumni People from Grave, North Brabant Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion 20th-century Dutch Jesuits Jesuit scientists 19th-century Dutch Jesuits

See also

References

External links