astronomy

Paul Herget

Paul Herget is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Paul Herget rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Herget (January 30, 1908 – August 27, 1981) was an American astronomer and director of the Cincinnati Observatory. He established the Minor Planet Center in 1947, after World War II.

Key takeaways

Paul Herget belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Paul Herget to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paul Herget from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paul Herget (January 30, 1908 – August 27, 1981) was an American astronomer and director of the Cincinnati Observatory. He established the Minor Planet Center in 1947, after World War II.

Career Herget taught astronomy at the University of Cincinnati. He was a pioneer in the use of machine methods, and eventually digital computers, in the solving of scientific and specifically astronomical problems (for example, in the calculation of ephemeris tables for minor planets). During World War II he applied these same talents to the war effort, helping to locate U-boats by means of the application of spherical trigonometry. After the war, Herget established the Minor Planet Center in 1947. He was also named director of the Cincinnati Observatory. The Minor Planet Center was eventually relocated in 1978 to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it still operates. Herget is also credited with helping design the shape of the Pringles potato-based chip.

Awards and honors In 1965 he was awarded the James Craig Watson Medal by the National Academy of Sciences for, "his scientific accomplishments in celestial mechanics and orbit computation, and particularly for his contributions to the knowledge of the orbits of asteroids". Asteroid 1751 Herget, discovered by astronomers with the Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory in 1955, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on February 20, 1971 (M.P.C. 3143). On August 1, 1978, asteroid 1755 Lorbach, discovered by Marguerite Laugier at Nice in 1936, was named for his wife, Anne Lorbach Herget (M.P.C. 4419).

Publication of discovery circumstances

In the 1950s and 1960s, Paul Herget compiled a large number of naming citations for minor planets, giving the discovery circumstances as well as background information on the name's origin and on the involved astronomers. His collected work is known as The Names of the Minor Planets and was published by the Cincinnati Observatory in 1955 and 1968. The last publication contains details of the discovery and naming of 1,564 minor planets up to the height of WWII in 1943, and spans from the first discovered minor planet, 1 Ceres, up to 1564 Srbija. Herget's discovery circumstances were later incorporated into the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, which was prepared by astronomer Lutz Schmadel on behalf of IAU's commission 20. In this work, citations that originate from Herget's original compilation are marked with the letter "H" and the corresponding page number.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Herget

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Herget claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paul Herget before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paul Herget ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paul Herget

In research: Paul Herget appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paul Herget in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paul Herget is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1908 births, 1981 deaths, American astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Herget outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Paul Herget in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul Herget means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Paul Herget out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Herget in simple terms?

Paul Herget (January 30, 1908 – August 27, 1981) was an American astronomer and director of the Cincinnati Observatory. He established the Minor Planet Center in 1947, after World War II.

Why does Paul Herget matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paul Herget?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paul Herget.