Background
Wolf was born at Heidelberg on June 21, 1863. He was the son of medical doctor Franz Wolf.
Astronomer researcher scientist
Wolf was born at Heidelberg on June 21, 1863. He was the son of medical doctor Franz Wolf.
He was educated at the universities of Heidelberg and Stockholm, and became one of Germany's leading astronomers.
Wolf applied photography to the heavens and invented the modern method of discovering asteroids with the photographic telescope. He was a professor at Heidelberg for 35 years and made numerous discoveries of comets, variable stars, and novae (including Nova Aquilae, 1927).
He discovered many nebulosities in the Milky Way, the Coma-Virgo cluster of galaxies, the important objects called dark nebulae, and "Wolf 359, " one of the stars nearest the earth.