Friedrich Bessel

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel was a German astronomer, mathematician, university teacher, and topographer who worked in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, geodesy, and physics. Born in Minden in 1784, he was a citizen of the Kingdom of Prussia. He served as an employee of the Koenigsberg Observatory, the University of Königsberg, and the Lilienthal Observatory. His notable works include the Bessel function, Bessel ellipsoid, Bessel polynomials, and Bessel's correction. He also authored the work Der schädel Immanuel Kant's.

Bessel received the Lalande Prize and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and he was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a member of the Royal Society, the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His doctoral students included Heinrich Scherk, Carl August von Steinheil, and Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander. He died in Königsberg in 1846 from retroperitoneal fibrosis due to natural causes.