COHN, FRITZ

COHN, FRITZ (1866–1922), German astronomer. Cohn was born in Koenigsberg, and was appointed professor at the university there in 1905. In 1909 he became director of the leading center for astronomical calculations and professor at the University of Berlin. Cohn, who did outstanding work in the field of celestial mechanics, dealt with the determination of the orbits of planets, asteroids, comets, double stars, and satellites, in his researches. He also investigated the values of the astronomical constants, the theory of errors, transit observations, fundamental star catalogs, and the orbital identification of minor planets. Cohn wrote Neue Methoden der Bahnbestimmung (1918), on celestial mechanics, and edited ten volumes   of the Astronomischer Jahresbericht (1910–20), the basic bibliographical work in astronomy. (Arthur Beer)