Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel (December 4, 1821 – March 16, 1889), normally known as Wilhelm Tempel, was a German astronomer who worked in Marseille until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, then later moved to Italy.
Tempel was born at Niedercunnersdorf, Saxony. He was a prolific discoverer of comets, discovering or co-discovering 21 in all, including Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, now known to be the parent body of the Leonid meteor shower, and 9P/Tempel, the target of the NASA probe Deep Impact in 2005. Other periodic comets that bear his name include 10P/Tempel and 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR.
The asteroid 3808 Tempel is named in his honour. The crater Tempel on the Moon is also named after him.
Famous quotes containing the word wilhelm:
“The true theater of history is therefore the temperate zone.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)