Discoverers of asteroids

Albert George Wilson (July 28, 1918 – August 27, 2012) was an American astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets.He was born in Houston, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Caltech in 1947; his thesis title was Axially Symmetric Thermal Stresses in a Semi-Infinite Solid advised by Harry Bateman.
In 1949 he accepted a job at Palomar Observatory, and led the Palomar Sky Survey. In 1953 he became assistant director of Lowell Observatory, and served as director from 1954 to 1957. He later worked at Rand Corporation and other private sector positions. In 1962 he became founding editor of the astronomical magazine Icarus. In 1966, he accepted the position of associate director of McDonnell-Douglas Corporation Advanced Research Laboratories (DARL), which he held from 1966 until 1972. Wilson then became an adjunct professor at USC, teaching courses in philosophy and science until his retirement. After retiring Wilson was associated with the Institute on Man and Science and the Institute of the Future, lecturing and consulting for both groups.He discovered a number of asteroids, and also co-discovered the periodic comet 107P/Wilson–Harrington with Robert George Harrington. The object is also known as the minor planet 4015 Wilson–Harrington.

Franz Heinrich Kaiser (25 April 1891 – 13 March 1962) was a German astronomer.He worked at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory from 1911 to 1914 while working on his Ph.D. there, which he obtained in 1915. During this time, Heidelberg was a center of asteroid discovery, and Kaiser discovered 21 asteroids during his time there.The outer main-belt asteroid 3183 Franzkaiser was named in his memory on 1 September 1993 (M.P.C. 22497).

Henri Joseph Anastase Perrotin (December 19, 1845 – February 29, 1904) was a French astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets. Some sources give his middle name as Athanase.
In his early career, he and Guillaume Bigourdan were assistants of Félix Tisserand at Toulouse Observatory. Later, he was the first director of the Nice Observatory in Nice, France from 1884 until his death. He made observations of Mars and attempted to determine the rotation period of Venus. He also calculated perturbations in the orbit of 4 Vesta.In the literature, he is sometimes referred to as Henri Perrotin and sometimes as Joseph Perrotin (this is indeed one and the same person). He is also referenced in H.G Well's novel "The War of The Worlds" as "Perrotin of Nice". His 6 asteroid discoveries are credited by the Minor Planet Center to "J. Perrotin".He won the Prix Lalande in 1875 and 1883. The Martian crater Perrotin and the inner main-belt asteroid 1515 Perrotin were named in his honor.

François Gonnessiat (May 22, 1856 (Nurieux-Volognat)–October 18, 1934) was a French astronomer, observer of comets and discoverer of two minor planets.He worked at the Observatory of Lyon. In 1889 he won the Lalande Prize for astronomy from the French Academy of Sciences; 1901 became director of the Quito (Ecuador) Observatory for the purpose of making geodetic measurements. He became a well known and respected member of the academic scene of the city, where a street is named after him. From 1908 to 1931, he was director of the Algiers Observatory where one of his colleagues was Benjamin Jekhovsky. He was also director of the Quito Astronomical Observatory.The asteroid 1177 Gonnessia was named in his memory (H 109).

Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade (March 24, 1893 – June 25, 1960) was a German astronomer who worked in the United States from 1931 to 1959.