ASTRONOMERS from Czechia

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Czech Astronomers of all time. This list of famous Czech Astronomers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Czech Astronomers.

1. Johann Palisa (1848 - 1925)

With an HPI of 60.93, Johann Palisa is the most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 49 different languages on wikipedia.

Johann Palisa (6 December 1848 – 2 May 1925) was an Austrian astronomer, born in Troppau, Austrian Silesia, now Czech Republic. He was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, discovering 122 in all, from 136 Austria in 1874 to 1073 Gellivara in 1923. Some of his notable discoveries include 153 Hilda, 216 Kleopatra, 243 Ida, 253 Mathilde, 324 Bamberga, and the near-Earth asteroid 719 Albert. Palisa made his discoveries without the aid of photography, and he remains the most successful visual (non-photographic) asteroid discoverer of all time. He was awarded the Valz Prize from the French Academy of Sciences in 1906. The asteroid 914 Palisana, discovered by Max Wolf in 1919, and the lunar crater Palisa were named in his honour.

2. Luboš Kohoutek (1935 - 2023)

With an HPI of 56.80, Luboš Kohoutek is the 2nd most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Luboš Kohoutek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkoɦou̯tɛk]; 29 January 1935 – 30 December 2023) was a Czech astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets, including Comet Kohoutek which was visible to the naked eye in 1973. He also discovered a large number of planetary nebulae.

3. Antonín Mrkos (1918 - 1996)

With an HPI of 54.46, Antonín Mrkos is the 3rd most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Antonín Mrkos (Czech pronunciation: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈmr̩kos]) (27 January 1918, Střemchoví – 29 May 1996, Prague) was a Czech astronomer.

4. Theodor von Oppolzer (1841 - 1886)

With an HPI of 52.71, Theodor von Oppolzer is the 4th most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Theodor von Oppolzer (26 October 1841 – 26 December 1886) was an Austrian astronomer and mathematician of Bohemian origin. The son of the physician Johann Ritter von Oppolzer, Theodor was born in Prague. He completed his graduate studies in medicine at the University of Vienna, gaining a Ph.D. in 1865. He also owned a private observatory. He began teaching theoretical astronomy and geodesics at the University of Vienna in 1866. By 1875 he was appointed a professor. In 1873 he became the director of the Austrian Geodetic Survey, and in 1886 he was elected president of the International Geodetic Association. He was considered a highly capable astronomer and mathematician. For example, he was reputed to have memorized the values of 14,000 logarithms. In 1868 he led an expedition to observe a solar eclipse. Afterward (1887) he authored the Canon der Finsternisse, an authoritative compilation of the 8,000 solar and 5,200 lunar eclipses from 1,200 B.C. until 2,161 A.D. This was widely recognized as one of the greatest computational feats of its day. Oppolzer authored over 300 papers, with most concerning the orbital elements of comets and asteroids. He also published a two-volume manual on the determination of the orbital elements of comets and planets. Both of his works served as standard astronomy references for many years. He was working on an improved theory of lunar motion at the time of his death. His son Egon von Oppolzer also became a distinguished astronomer. He startet to build the Historic Observatory of the University of Innsbruck.

5. Tadeáš Hájek (1525 - 1600)

With an HPI of 49.48, Tadeáš Hájek is the 5th most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Tadeáš Hájek z Hájku (Czech pronunciation: [ˈtadeaːʃ ˈɦaːjɛk ˈzɦaːjku]) (1 December 1525 in Prague – 1 September 1600 in Prague), also known as Tadeáš Hájek of Hájek, Thaddaeus Hagecius ab Hayek or Thaddeus Nemicus, was a Czech naturalist, personal physician of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and an astronomer in the Kingdom of Bohemia.

6. Joseph Johann von Littrow (1781 - 1840)

With an HPI of 49.03, Joseph Johann von Littrow is the 6th most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Joseph Johann von Littrow (13 March 1781, Horšovský Týn (German: Bischofteinitz) – 30 November 1840, Vienna) was an Austrian astronomer. In 1837, he was ennobled with the title Joseph Johann Edler von Littrow. He was the father of Karl Ludwig Edler von Littrow and the mentor of the mathematician Nikolai Brashman. His work took him to Russia for a time, which is where his son who succeeded him was born. He became director of the Vienna Observatory in 1819. He served in this position until his death in 1840. He created the only conformal retroazimuthal map projection, which is known as the Littrow projection. Littrow authored the widely read Wunder des Himmels ("Miracles of the Sky"), which was reprinted eight times by 1897. Von Littrow is often associated with a proposal to dig a large circular canal in the Sahara desert and fill it with burning kerosene, thus communicating the fact of human intelligence to aliens who may be observing Earth. However, Von Littrow's connection with this scheme may be apocryphal. The crater Littrow on the Moon is named in his honor. He is the great-great-great-grandfather of Roman Catholic Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

7. Jana Tichá (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 40.45, Jana Tichá is the 7th most famous Czech Astronomer.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Jana Tichá (born 1965 in České Budějovice) is a Czech astronomer and discoverer of minor planets. She studied at the University of Economics in Prague and graduated in 1987. In 1992 she was selected for the position of a director of the Kleť Observatory. She specializes in discoveries of asteroids and comets especially near-Earth objects (NEOs). The Minor Planet Center credits her with the discovery of 104 numbered minor planets during 1995–2003. She is the chair of the IAU Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN), which is responsible for approving names of asteroids. She works together with her husband Miloš Tichý at Kleť. In her country she is also well known for her popularization activities. She is major contributor to the Czech web servers about asteroids and comets. On 3 May 1996 the asteroid 5757 Tichá was named in her honour (M.P.C. 27128), while she named her discovery, the main-belt asteroid 8307 Peltan, after several members of her family.

8. Lenka Kotková (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 39.93, Lenka Kotková is the 8th most famous Czech Astronomer.  Her biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Lenka Kotková (née Šarounová; born 26 July 1973) is a Czech astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets. She works at Observatoř Ondřejov (Ondřejov Observatory), located near Prague. Besides numerous main-belt asteroids she also discovered Mars-crosser asteroid 9671 Hemera and Hilda family asteroid 21804 Václavneumann. Lenka Kotková studied meteorology at the faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University in Prague. Her tasks at the Astronomical institute AV ČR in Ondřejov are primarily the development of databases, spectroscopical and photometric observation, and data processing. During her work at the department of inter planetary matter her main role was the observation of near-earth asteroids, along with Petr Pravec and Peter Kušnirák she identified a large proportion of known binary asteroids. In the same time period she discovered or co-discovered over one hundred asteroids. At the present time Lenka Kotková works in the stellar department as an observant with a two-metre Ondřejov telescope. In the year 2000 she received the Zdeněk Kvíz Award of the Czech Astronomical Society for significant work in the research of variable stars. The asteroid 10390 Lenka, discovered by her colleagues Petr Pravec and Marek Wolf in 1997, is named after her. The asteroid 60001 Adélka, discovered by her in 1999, is named after her daughter, while 7897 Bohuška, discovered by her in 1995, is named after her mother.

9. Miloš Tichý (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 38.84, Miloš Tichý is the 9th most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Miloš Tichý (born 1966 in Počátky) is a Czech astronomer. He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids. He also discovered the periodic comet 196P/Tichý. He works together with his ex-wife at Kleť Observatory. Asteroid 3337 Miloš is named after him.

10. Zdeněk Moravec (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 34.68, Zdeněk Moravec is the 10th most famous Czech Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Zdeněk Moravec (born 1968) is a Czech astronomer and astrophysicist. Zdeněk Moravec is a graduate from Charles University in Prague. He became a prolific discoverer of minor planets, during his stay at the Kleť Observatory in South Bohemia, Czech Republic, from 1992 to 2000. He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with a total of 93 discovered bodies (between 1994 and 1998), of which 65 were co-discoveries together with astronomer Miloš Tichý. In March 2008 they discovered the minor planet 17805 Švestka at the Kleť Observatory, which they named it in honor of solar physicist Zdeněk Švestka. Since 2001, he teaches theoretic physics and computer modelling at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic.