Paul G. Comba


see

Paul G. Comba was an Italian-American computer scientist, an amateur astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets.
He was born in the French protectorate of Tunisia to Italian Tunisian parents in 1926, and moved to Italy at a young age. Admitted to university studies at the age of 17, He attended the University of Turin. In 1946 he moved to the United States to attend Bluffton College, from which he graduated in 1947. He then attended Caltech, and completed his Ph.D. work in mathematics in 1951. In 1951 he moved to Honolulu where he taught at the University of Hawaiʻi until 1960.
He then joined IBM as a software developer, and later as a member of the IBM Cambridge Scientific Center. There he worked in Cryptography, and also developed a multiplication algorithm for large numbers, which reduces the multiplication time to as little as 3% of the conventional algorithm.
In 2003 he won the Leslie C. Peltier Award for his contribution to astronomy.
He is the author of the Astronomical League's Asteroid Club Observing Guide, and was an active member of the Prescott Astronomy Club.

Prescott Observatory

After retirement in 1991, Comba moved to Prescott, Arizona, where he built the Prescott Observatory There he specialized in discovering asteroids and has been recognized for the discovery of 644 numbered objects as of September 2013.
Refurbished in 2011, the observatory houses a PlaneWave CDK 24 inch telescope with two Takahashi wide field refractors in the dome. There is a dedicated solar observatory that is equipped with a Lunt 152 solar telescope. The observatory also has a nano lab for cosmology research that is currently equipped with a JEOL 5800LV SEM. Prescott Observatory is an active contributor for the webcast organization SLOOH which is the premiere webcast organization for live celestial events. The observatory is now owned and operated by Matt Francis.

List of discovered minor planets

7684 Marioferrero3 March 1997
8223 Bradshaw6 August 1996
8224 Fultonwright6 August 1996
8407 Houlahan25 July 1995
8420 Angrogna17 November 1996
8580 Pinsky14 December 1996
8583 Froberger8 January 1997
8734 Warner1 January 1997
8945 Cavaradossi1 February 1997
9238 Yavapai28 April 1997
9445 Charpentier8 May 1997
9662 Frankhubbard12 April 1996
9669 Symmetria8 July 1997
9902 Kirkpatrick3 July 1997
9903 Leonhardt4 July 1997
9987 Peano29 July 1997
9988 Erictemplebell9 September 1997
10181 Davidacomba26 March 1996
10204 Turing1 August 1997
10382 Hadamard15 September 1996
10588 Adamcrandall18 July 1996
10598 Markrees13 October 1996
10607 Amandahatton13 November 1996
10914 Tucker31 December 1997
11156 Al-Khwarismi31 December 1997

14995 Archytas5 November 1997
15378 Artin7 August 1997
15396 Howardmoore24 October 1997
15620 Beltrami29 April 2000
15896 Birkhoff13 June 1997
15938 Bohnenblust27 December 1997
16065 Borel11 September 1999
16246 Cantor27 April 2000
16249 Cauchy29 April 2000
16755 Cayley9 September 1996
16765 Agnesi16 October 1996
16810 Pavelaleksandrov25 October 1997
16856 Banach28 December 1997
16953 Besicovitch27 May 1998
17076 Betti18 April 1999
17285 Bezout3 July 2000
17637 Blaschke11 August 1996
17653 Bochner10 November 1996
17696 Bombelli8 March 1997
17703 Bombieri9 September 1997
17734 Boole22 January 1998
17891 Buraliforti6 March 1999
17917 Cartan15 April 1999
18059 Cavalieri15 December 1999
18498 Cesaro22 June 1996

22497 Immanuelfuchs30 May 1997
22611 Galerkin17 May 1998
23625 Gelfond19 November 1996
23699 Paulgordan8 July 1997
23776 Gosset17 August 1998
23777 Goursat23 August 1998
23889 Hermanngrassmann26 September 1998
24907 Alfredhaar4 February 1997
24935 Godfreyhardy28 April 1997
24944 Harish-Chandra11 June 1997
24947 Hausdorff7 July 1997
24998 Hermite28 July 1998
25000 Astrometria28 July 1998
25029 Ludwighesse26 August 1998
25082 Williamhodge15 September 1998
25142 Hopf26 September 1998
25237 Hurwitz20 October 1998
25593 Camillejordan28 December 1999
25604 Karlin4 January 2000
25624 Kronecker6 January 2000
25628 Kummer7 January 2000
26205 Kuratowski11 June 1997
26276 Natrees20 September 1998
26277 Ianrees20 September 1998
26357 Laguerre27 December 1998

29613 Charlespicard16 September 1998
29643 Plücker15 November 1998
29646 Polya16 November 1998
29647 Poncelet17 November 1998
29700 Salmon19 December 1998
29837 Savage21 March 1999
29910 Segre14 May 1999
30305 Severi1 May 2000
30306 Frigyesriesz2 May 2000
30307 Marcelriesz2 May 2000
30417 Staudt1 June 2000
30418 Jakobsteiner1 June 2000
30443 Stieltjes3 July 2000
30445 Stirling5 July 2000
30566 Stokes29 July 2001
31043 Sturm11 June 1996
31122 Brooktaylor21 September 1997
31189 Tricomi27 December 1997
31665 Veblen10 May 1999
31823 Viète4 October 1999
31931 Sipiera10 April 2000
31956 Wald13 April 2000
31982 Johnwallis30 April 2000
32267 Hermannweyl1 August 2000
33004 Dianesipiera2 March 1997

4 January 2000
15 September 1996
9 October 1996
2 November 1996
19 January 1998
15 July 1998
12 February 1999
18 June 1999
12 September 1999
2 October 1999
2 October 1999
25 December 1999
1 July 2000
3 July 2000
31 January 1997
23 May 1998
19 August 1998
4 January 2000
3 February 2001
23 September 1997
28 April 1998
28 May 1998
26 August 1998
4 October 1999
8 October 1999

2 February 2000
10 March 2000
4 April 2000
1 November 1996
3 December 1996
28 April 1997
23 October 1997
27 October 1997
26 July 1998
20 February 1999
14 May 1999
7 February 2000
10 March 2000
10 March 2000
26 March 2000
28 April 2000
28 April 2000
28 April 2000
9 May 2000
27 May 2000
1 June 2000
4 September 2000
23 September 2000
29 July 2001
8 September 2001

21 July 2000
26 July 2000
20 August 2000
5 September 2000
22 September 2000
1 December 1996
8 September 1997
3 August 1999
2 April 2000
5 April 2000
24 September 2000
14 March 2001
15 April 1996
8 October 1996
11 January 1997
11 May 1997
27 October 1997
28 April 1998
21 June 1998
15 August 1998
23 August 1998
19 September 1998
16 October 1998
19 December 1998
26 December 1998

16 September 2001
30 October 1996
4 February 1997
8 May 1997
23 October 1997
17 August 1998
24 December 1998
27 December 1998
31 December 1999
12 January 2000
15 January 2000
1 February 2000
2 February 2000
2 February 2000
8 February 2000
3 March 2000
3 March 2000
11 March 2000
2 April 2000
4 April 2000
2 May 2000
4 May 2000
23 May 2000
9 June 2000
10 January 1997

31 October 1999
29 February 2000
25 March 2000
28 April 2000
29 April 2000
4 July 2000
21 August 2000
22 September 2000
5 October 2000
17 March 2001
18 September 1996
8 January 1997
22 March 1998
28 May 1998
9 April 1999
16 April 1999
8 October 1999
31 October 1999
3 December 1999
15 December 1999
4 April 2000
31 May 2000
5 August 2000
5 August 2000
5 September 2000

3 February 2000
6 February 2000
10 March 2000
7 April 2000
11 April 2000
9 May 2000
23 May 2000
27 May 2000
5 August 2000
31 August 2000
22 September 2000
28 November 2000
12 February 2001
16 February 2001
9 September 2001
12 September 2001
14 March 2002
9 July 1997
20 September 1998
12 January 2000
4 April 2000
1 November 1996
31 January 1997
8 August 1999
4 October 1999

13 October 1999
8 February 2000
19 September 2001
18 July 1996
3 December 1996
6 February 1997
28 September 1998
6 March 1999
7 June 1999
10 October 1999
12 October 1999
4 January 2000
6 January 2000
23 September 2000
12 November 1996
5 November 1997
8 September 1999
31 May 2000
1 January 1997
28 December 1999
2 March 2000
26 August 2000
10 September 1997
8 October 1999
15 January 2000

26 August 2001
8 January 1997
24 September 2000
9 August 1999
19 September 2000
24 September 2000
28 June 2003
11 January 2000
9 March 1999
16 January 2000
2 April 2000
11 April 2000
7 May 2000
31 May 2000
7 June 2000
28 December 1999
21 August 2000
28 January 2000
24 July 2001
26 March 2000
5 August 2000
14 March 2002
14 September 1999
21 August 2000
17 March 2001

2 February 2000
12 February 2001
17 October 1996
25 May 2000
24 September 2000
12 February 2001
23 September 1996
30 September 1997
12 December 1999
10 January 2000
4 December 2000
15 April 2001
11 December 1999
15 December 1999
22 August 2000
18 April 2001
31 January 1997
31 October 1996
7 May 2000
24 September 2000
24 May 2001
12 June 1996
3 October 1996
27 July 2001
5 May 2002

17 October 1998
1 June 1997
21 August 2000
2 September 2000
8 October 1996
26 May 2000
3 February 2001
26 August 2001
12 November 1996
4 December 1996
11 October 1999
29 May 2000
16 August 2001
5 October 2000
29 September 2003
2 February 2000
29 May 2000
30 March 2000
26 September 2003
16 September 1999
30 July 2000
15 March 2001
4 January 2001
22 July 2000
18 September 2001