Theodor Brorsen

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Theodor Brorsen (July 29, 1819 – March 31, 1895) was a Danish astronomer famous for discovering five comets, including the lost 5D/Brorsen and the periodic 23P/Brorsen-Metcalf.

He was born in Nordborg on the island of Als, the son of a ship captain. His three middle names came from his mother’s family. After his parents divorced, he grew up with his mother, whose means helped him study. He attended the Moravian school in Christiansfeld and later a Latin school in Flensburg. He started studying law in Kiel, Berlin, and Heidelberg, but eventually chose astronomy and studied at Kiel in 1844.

Brorsen worked at the Kiel Observatory in 1846 and at the Altona Observatory in 1847. He turned down a job at Copenhagen’s Round Tower Observatory and instead took a position at the private observatory of Baron John Parish in Senftenberg (now Žamberk, Czech Republic). When the director’s post at Altona opened in 1854, he was not chosen. After Parish died in 1858, the Senftenberg observatory was dismantled, though Brorsen offered to continue his work for free. He stayed in Senftenberg for about 12 more years, using his own instruments.

In 1870 he returned to Nordborg, which had become part of Prussia/Germany. In 1874 he moved to a house at Løjtertoft 11 and lived there until his death. He never married, having broken off two engagements. He was known to be shy and sometimes stubborn. In his later years in Nordborg he focused more on meteorology, northern lights, and botany, especially orchids.

Brorsen died at age 75 and was buried in the Nordborg cemetery, where his grave remains.