Johann Encke - Biography

Encke was born in Hamburg, Germany.  He studied astronomy at the University of Gottingen but was enlisted in the Prussian army.  Once back from the forces, Encke resumed his schooling while being an assistant at the Observatory of Seeberg.  At this observatory, Encke studied a comet and correctly assigned a period to that comet.  This discovery later won him the Cotta prize in 1817.  This comet belongs in the same family as the Halley's comet.  Encke did many observations and calculations which ultimately led to him discovering the short periodic comets.  This information was sent to Gauss, Olbers, and Bessell.  The discovered comet was also identified as the cause of the Taurids meteor showers.

While Encke put in many hours towards his passion, he also led a personal life.  Encke married Amalie Becker and they had five children, three boys and two girls.  The following year after the marriage, Encke was named a Fellow of the Royal Society

Encke eventually became the leader of the Seeberg observatory in 1822 but was then promoted in 1825 to another observatory located in Berlin.  Due to recommendations from Bessell, Encke became the leader of the new observatory as well.  Encke did a lot of work studying comets and asteroids.  He even added four volumes to the Observations of the Berlin Observatory.  Johann also discovered a disparity in the rings of saturn and this gap of rings was named The Encke Gap.

In 1844 Encke became a professor of Astronomy at the University of Berlin.  A lot of work was expected of him in the area of computing the movement of asteroids.  Later in life his observation ability deteriorated mainly due to his development of brain disease.  Despite this Encke remained the director of the observatory until his death in 1865.  Encke's life was full of astronomical contributions.  Some of these contributions are; the comet Encke, the moon crater Encke,  the asteroid 9134 Encke, and the Encke gap are all important contributions made by the astronomer Johann Encke.