Carl Gustav Witt

Carl Gustav Witt (29 October 1866 – 3 January 1946) was a German astronomer and discoverer of two asteroids who worked at the Berlin Urania Observatory, a popular observatory of the Urania astronomical association of Berlin.^[2]

Carl Gustav Witt
Born	(1866-10-29)29 October 1866 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	3 January 1946(1946-01-03) (aged 79)
Nationality	German
Alma mater	Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
Known for	discovery of asteroids
Awards	Iron Cross 2nd Class, 2732 Witt is named after him
Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy
Institutions	Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Urania Sternwarte Berlin
Doctoral advisor	Julius Bauschinger

Asteroids discovered: 2^[1]

422 Berolina	8 October 1896
433 Eros	13 August 1898

He wrote a doctoral thesis under the direction of Julius Bauschinger.

Witt discovered two asteroids, most notably 433 Eros, the first asteroid with a male name, and the first known near-Earth object.^[3][4] His first minor planet discovery was the main-belt asteroid 422 Berolina, that bears the Latin name of his adoptive city.^[5]

The minor planet 2732 Witt – an A-type asteroid from the main-belt, discovered by Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in 1926 – was named in his memory by American astronomer and MPC's longtime director, Brian G. Marsden.^[2] Naming citation was published on 22 September 1983 (M.P.C. 8153).^[6]