Johann Georg Palitzsch
Johann Georg Palitzsch (11 June 1723 – 21 February 1788) was a German astronomer who became famous for recovering Comet 1P/Halley (better known as Halley's Comet) on Christmas Day, 1758. The periodic nature of this comet had been deduced by its namesake Edmond Halley in 1705, but Halley had died before seeing if his prediction would come true.
Raised to become a successful farmer under a strict stepfather, Palitzsch secretly studied as much astronomy as he could from the books he could afford. He learned contemporary astronomy from the book “Vorhof der Sternwissenschaft” (“The Forecourt of Astronomy”) by Christian Pescheck. He learned Latin and, at age 21, inherited the farm, which allowed him to construct his own botanical garden, library, laboratory, and museum.
He received support from various benefactors, including the future King. But the wars between Prussia and Austria interrupted his ambitions.

Upon his death on 21 February 1788 Palitzsch left behind a library of 3518 books, partly consisting of handwritten copies he had created from scientific works too expensive for him to purchase.

A crater and a "vallis" (valley) on the Moon are named after him.

The asteroid 11970 Palitzsch also is named after him.
Q183
German
LOC
Q11063
astronomer
Concept
Q23054
Halley's Comet
CEL
Q47434
Edmond Halley
PER
Q53444
King
PER
Q33143
wars between Prussia and Austria
EVE
Q2047856
crater
LOC
Q9368161
"vallis" (valley)
LOC
Q405
Moon
CEL
Q3863
asteroid
Concept
Q313511
11970 Palitzsch
UNK
Q63581
Johann Georg Palitzsch
PER
1723-06-11T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
11 June 1723
DATE
1788-02-21T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
21 February 1788
DATE
1758-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1758
DATE
1705-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1705
DATE
1788-02-21T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
21 February 1788
DATE
3518-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
3518
DATE
+1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1
NUMBER
+21^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
21
NUMBER
country of citizenship
occupation
date of birth
located on astronomical body