Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt

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Asteroids discovered: 14

21 Lutetia	November 15 1852
32 Pomona	October 26 1854
36 Atalante	October 5 1855
40 Harmonia	March 31 1856
41 Daphne	May 22 1856
44 Nysa	May 27 1857
45 Eugenia	June 27 1857
48 Doris	September 19 1857
49 Pales	September 19 1857
52 Europa	February 4 1858
54 Alexandra	September 10 1858
56 Melete	September 9 1859
61 Danaë	September 9 1860
70 Panopaea	May 5 1861

Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt (June 17 1802–April 26 1866) was a German astronomer and painter who spent much of his life in France.

He was born in Frankfurt, the son of a Jewish merchant. He went to Paris and studied art and painted a number of paintings before turning his attention to astronomy.

In April 1861 he announced the discovery of a ninth moon of Saturn between Titan and Hyperion, which he named "Chiron". However, he was mistaken: this moon did not exist. Today, "Chiron" is the name of an entirely different object, the unusual asteroid/comet 2060 Chiron.

He is credited with being the first to record and observe (in 1820) the shadow bands that appear in the minutes just before a total solar eclipse.

He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1861. Goldschmidt, a crater on the Moon is named after him, and so is the asteroid 1614 Goldschmidt.

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