Fritz Cohn

Fritz Cohn, RAS Associate (12 May 1866 – 14 December 1922) was a German astronomer and professor of astronomy at the University of Berlin. Throughout his career he worked at numerous observatories and was director of the Astronomical Calculation Institute. His main work was in astrometry and minor planets, although he published star catalogues and oversaw the production of journals in his later life. The minor planet 972 Cohnia is named in honour of him. Fritz Cohn was born on 12 May 1866 in Königsberg, Prussia, the second of three sons to the merchant Callman Cohn and his wife Henriette Rosenberg. When he was 11 his father died, after which his family experienced serious financial troubles. From 1872 he attended the Altstadt Gymnasium in his hometown, passing his matriculation exam in Easter 1883, at the age of 17. The following years were devoted to the study of mathematics, physics, and astronomy, as well as geography and history, at the University of Königsberg and the University of Berlin. In 1888 he passed Königsberg's state examinations and later in the same year attained a PhD with a thesis titled "Über Lamésche Funktionen mit komplexen Parametern" ("About Lamé functions with complex parameters"). On 1 July 1891 he began working as a "computer" at the Königsberg Observatory. Save for a year's leave to further his studies in Leipzig, Cohn remained at the observatory until 1 October 1909, being promoted to an assistantship in 1898 and becoming a full-time observer in 1900. During this time he published numerous academic papers, among the major works being a discussion of the meteorological records of Königsberg for 45 years, a new reduction of observations made by Friedrich Bessel between 1813 and 1819, and a study of the declinations and proper motions of the stars selected for observation by the International Latitude Service.