Viktor Knorre


Viktor Karlovich Knorre was a Russian astronomer of German origin. He worked in Nikolaev, Pulkovo and Berlin and is best known for having discovered 158 Koronis and three other minor planets. Knorre's father, Karl Friedrich Knorre, and grandfather, Ernst Friedrich Knorre, were also prominent astronomers. Recently, the main-belt asteroid 14339 Knorre was named in honor of the three generations of Knorre astronomers.

Biography and family background

Knorre was born into a three-generation astronomer family. His grandfather, Ernst Friedrich Knorre, had moved from Germany to Dorpat where he worked as Observator for the Dorpat observatory and professor of Mathematics at the University of Dorpat.
Victor Knorre's father, Karl Friedrich Knorre, set up and was director of the Nikolayev Astronomical Observatory starting in 1827.
Viktor was born the fifth of fifteen children in Nikolayev. He moved to Berlin in 1862 to study astronomy with Wilhelm Julius Foerster. He worked at Pulkovo Observatory in 1867 as an astronomical calculator and then at Berlin Observatory, where his father moved circa 1871.

Astronomer

From 1873, he was observer at the Berlin Observatory. Knorre discovered four asteroids. He did not teach students at the University of Berlin; instead he gave introductions into the use of the telescopes of the Observatory. In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Astronomy. Knorre took an interest in the improvement of astronomical equipment, and published papers on an improved equatorial telescope mount, referred to as the "Knorre & Heele" mount.
158 Koronis4 January 1876
215 Oenone7 April 1880
238 Hypatia1 July 1884
271 Penthesilea13 October 1887

Chess master

Knorre was also known as a strong chess player, playing among others against Adolf Anderssen, Gustav Neumann and Johannes Zukertort. He took part in several chess tournaments during the 1860s. According to the ChessMetrics site, He was ranked among top 50 players in the world at his peak.
In the Two Knights Defense, the Knorre Variation is named after him. Continuing from the main line, it is characterized by the moves 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.d4 Qc7 12.Bd2. The Knorre variation of the Open defense in the Ruy Lopez, characterized by the move 6. Nc3, is also named after Knorre.