Education
University of Virginia.
University of Virginia.
He discovered periodic comet 46P/Wirtanen, as well as eight asteroids, including notably the Apollo asteroid (29075) 1950 District Attorney, which may have a non-negligible probability of impacting the earth in the year 2880. He also discovered two other Apollo asteroids: 1685 Toro and 1863 Antinous. The Shane Wirtanen Catalogue, a count of galaxies, was his major work published in 1954.
He was of Finnish ancestry.