Viktor Knorre

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Viktor Karlovich Knorre (4 October 1840 – 25 August 1919) was a Russian-born astronomer of German origin who worked in Nikolaev, Pulkovo, and Berlin. He is best known for discovering the asteroid 158 Koronis and three other minor planets. He came from a three-generation family of astronomers: his father Karl Friedrich Knorre and grandfather Ernst Friedrich Knorre were also prominent scientists. The main-belt asteroid 14339 Knorre was named in honor of all three generations.

Knorre was born in Nikolayev (now Mykolaiv, Ukraine) as the fifth of fifteen children. He moved to Berlin in 1862 to study astronomy with Wilhelm Foerster. In 1867 he worked at the Pulkovo Observatory as an astronomical calculator, and around 1871 joined the Berlin Observatory, where his father had become director. From 1873 he served as an observer at Berlin Observatory. He discovered four asteroids in total. He did not teach university classes; instead he showed observers how to use the Observatory’s telescopes. In 1892 he became Professor of Astronomy.

Knorre also worked on improving astronomical equipment, publishing papers on an improved equatorial telescope mount known as the Knorre & Heele mount. Outside science, he was a strong chess player who faced famous rivals such as Adolf Anderssen, Gustav Neumann, and Johannes Zukertort in the 1860s, and was sometimes ranked among the world’s top 50 players. The Two Knights Defense includes the Knorre Variation (ECO C59), and there is also a Knorre variation in the Ruy Lopez opening.