Background
Herget, Paul was born on January 30, 1908 in Cincinnati. Son of Conrad Fred and Clara Louise (Brueckner) Herget.
Herget, Paul was born on January 30, 1908 in Cincinnati. Son of Conrad Fred and Clara Louise (Brueckner) Herget.
Bachelor of Arts, Univercity Cincinnati, 1931, Master of Arts, 1933, Doctor of Philosophy, 1935. Doctor of Science (honorary), Edgecliff College, 1969.
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). The asteroid 1751 Herget is named in his honour.
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. Herget established the Minor Planet Center at the university after the war 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.
Member National Academy Sciences (recipient James Craig Watson gold medal 1965), American Astronomical Society (council 1952-1955), American Association for the Advancement of Science, Engineering Society Cincinnati (honorary), American Association University Professors, International Astronomical Union (president commission 20 1961-1967), Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi.
Married Harriet Louise Smith, July 27, 1935 (deceased.; married second, Anne Vallery Lorbach, September 20, 1972.