Career
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. 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. 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.
1799 Entered Charles University
1802 Graduated in jurisprudence and theology
1803 Became the private tutor of count J. Renard in Silesia
1807 Appointed professor of astronomy Krakau University
1810 Established the observatory at Kazan University
1816 Became co-director of the observatory at Ofen (Buda)
1819 Appointed professor of astronomy at the University of Vienna and became director of the first university observatory Vienna, which he reorganized completely.
