Reinmuth, Karl Wilhelm

BornHeidelberg, Germany, 4 April 1892

DiedHeidelberg, Germany, 6 May 1979

Before the advent of automated search techniques, Karl Reinmuth became the world’s most successful asteroid hunter. He discovered a total of 389 minor planets, including some of the first known to exist outside of the main asteroid belt.

A lifelong resident of Heidelberg, Reinmuth studied at the Ruprich-Karls University. His doctoral thesis (1916), entitled “Photographische Positionsbestimmung von 356 Schultzschen Nebelflecken,” reported on the position determinations of 356 nebulae, originally cataloged in 1875 by Herman Schultz of Uppsala.

Reinmuth joined the staff of the Königstuhl Observatory near Heidelberg as a volunteer in 1912, working under the supervision of director Maximillian Wolf , the first astronomer to apply photographic techniques to the discovery of asteroids. Reinmuth located his first new minor planet, (796) Sarita, on 15 October 1914. Upon Wolf’s death, Reinmuth was appointed director of the...