Rudolf Ferdinand Spitaler (7 January 1849 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian astronomer, geophysicist, meteorologist and climatologist.Nachruf auf Professor Dr. Rudolf Spitaler. In: Meteorologische Rundschau. Bände 3–5, Springer, 1950Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie. Band 2, Universitäts-Verlag Wagner, 1953, p. 151Porträtgallerie der Astronomischen Gesellschaft. Hrsg. Astronomische Gesellschaft Deutschland. Tullberg, 1904, p. 57 (with photograph)
He discovered 64 IC objects whilst working at Vienna Observatory and Comet 113P/Spitaler. He won the Donohoe Comet Medal for his November 1890 discovery of the comet now known as 113P/Spitaler.
The geophysicist and meteorologist Leo Wenzel Pollak was one of his PhD students.Leo Wenzel Pollak (1888-1964): Czechoslovakian pioneer in scientific data processing IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol 21, Issue 4, Oct–Dec 1999
He was one of the first to speculate the existence of a 13th zodiacal constellation, which later became known as Ophiuchus.
Selected works Zeichnungen und Photographien am Grubb’schen Refractor von 68cm (27 engl. Zoll) Öffnung in den Jahren 1885 bis 1890 (1891) Bahnbestimmung des Kometen 1851 III (Brorsen) (1894) Periodische Verschiebungen des Schwerpunktes der Erde (1905) Die Achsenschwankungen der Erde als Ursache der Auslösung von Erdbeben (1913) Das Klima des Eiszeitalters (1921)
References
External links
publications by R. Spitaler in Astrophysics Data System