Alois Purgathofer

Alois Purgathofer (February 18, 1925 - March 13, 1984), was a well known and respected Austrian astronomer at the Vienna Observatory from 1954 to 1984. He mainly worked on the photometry of galactic star clusters, but also on the asteroid 51 Nemausa. In 1969 the Leopold Figl observatory was built on the Mitterschöpfl mountain under his technical and astronomical advice, containing a 1.5 m Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. His knowledge of astronomical instruments was legendary, especially of optical and electronic devices and of image converters. He died unexpectedly on March 13, 1984 during a business trip to the Calar Alto Observatory in Almeria, Spain.

In his honour Rudolf Pressberger named his self built observatory in Klosterneuburg-Kierling “Purgathofer-Sternwarte”, and also the asteroid 5341 was named “Purgathofer”.

External links

* [http://www.austriaca.at/sternwarten/purgathofer.htm Purgathofer Sternwarte]

Persondata
NAME=Purgathofer, Alois
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Austrian Astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH=February 18 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH=Bruck an der Mur, Austria
DATE OF DEATH=March 13 1984
PLACE OF DEATH=Almeria, Spain