Paul Guthnick (January 12, 1879 – September 6, 1947) was a German

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

. Born in Hitdorf am Rhein, he studied at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

receiving his doctorate in 1901 under Friedrich Küstner. He worked from 1901 at the Royal Observatory of Berlin and studied

variable stars A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...

and specifically

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–300 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...

. As Berlin expanded, it became less possible to conduct astronomical observations there and Guthnick used, from 1906 onward, the local park known as Babelsberg. An

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

was later built there after approval by the government. He was appointed professor of astrophysics at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

in 1916. In 1921, he became director of the Babelsberg Observatory. He conducted observations of the

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s of the Southern Hemisphere on an expedition to

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

in 1929. After the seizure of power by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1933, Guthnick adapted himself to new conditions under the regime, although he opposed the

Welteislehre (WEL; "World Ice Theory" or "World Ice Doctrine"), also known as (''Glacial Cosmogony''), is a List of topics characterized as pseudoscience, discredited cosmological concept proposed by Hanns Hörbiger, an Austrian engineer and inventor. Accord ...

theories that were favored by

Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

. He died in Berlin. His obituary in the ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' states he was an ardent Catholic. The lunar crater Guthnick is named after him.

References

20th-century German astronomers German Roman Catholics 1879 births 1947 deaths {{Germany-astronomer-stub