Ernst Zinner was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 astronomer

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 and noted historian of astronomy

History of astronomy

Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, and astrological practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy, and not...

. After studies in Munich and Jena he obtained his PhD in 1907 at the University of Jena, followed by stays at the University of Lund, the University of Paris, and the Königstuhl Observatory in Heidelberg. From 1 February 1910, Zinner worked as an assistant at Remeis-Observatory, Bamberg. Here, on 23 October 1913 he rediscovered the Comet Giacobini-Zinner

21P/Giacobini-Zinner

Comet Giacobini–Zinner is a periodic comet in our solar system.It was discovered by Michel Giacobini from , who observed the comet in the constellation of Aquarius on December 20, 1900...

, which had been previously discovered by Michel Giacobini

Michel Giacobini

Michel Giacobini was a French astronomer.He discovered a number of comets, including 21P/Giacobini-Zinner , 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, and 205P/Giacobini...

 in 1900. His main work during this time was on variable stars. After working as a meteorologist during World War I, Zinner returned to Bamberg, but then moved to Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 to work in geodesy. In 1924 Zinner received the professor's title from the University of Munich. He was appointed director of Remeis-Observatory in Bamberg

Bamberg

Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...

, Germany, in 1926 and retired in 1956. During this time his main astronomical work centered on stellar astronomy. His main speciality and interest, however, was Renaissance Astronomy and the history of astronomical instruments, an area in which he started working in 1925. His obituaries quote a total of 9000 printed pages on this subject, with the most significant ones focusing on biographies and cataloguing early astronomical works and instruments.

Honors

• The crater Zinner
  Zinner (crater)
  Zinner is a tiny lunar impact crater located due north of the crater Schiaparelli on the Oceanus Procellarum. It is circular and cup-shaped, with a high albedo in comparison to the surrounding lunar mare. The crater lies across a linear ray from the southwest. To the northwest is the slightly...
  
   on the Moon
  Moon
  The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
  
   is named after him.
• Honorary doctorate of the University of Frankfurt
• Honorary citizen of Königsberg in Franken
• Leibniz Medal of the Prussian Academy of Sciences