Friedrich Bessel

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel was a German astronomer, mathematician, university teacher, and topographer born in Minden in 1784. He worked in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, geodesy, and physics. His professional career included positions at the Lilienthal Observatory, the Koenigsberg Observatory, and the University of Königsberg. He was a citizen of the Kingdom of Prussia, where he also resided.

Bessel is associated with several notable works, including the Bessel function, Bessel ellipsoid, Bessel polynomials, and Bessel's correction. He received the Lalande Prize and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a member of the Royal Society, the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

He died in Königsberg in 1846 from retroperitoneal fibrosis. His doctoral students included Heinrich Scherk, Carl August von Steinheil, and Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander. His work has been described in sources such as the Svensk uppslagsbok, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, and the Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia.