Maria Kirch

Maria Kirch (born Feb. 25, 1670, Panitzsch, near Leipzig, Saxony [Germany]—died Dec. 29, 1720, Berlin, Prussia [Germany]) was a German astronomer who was the first woman to discover a comet. Winckelmann was educated by her father, a Lutheran minister, and—after her father’s death—by an uncle. She studied astronomy under Christoph Arnold, a local self-taught astronomer. It was through Arnold that Winckelmann met astronomer Gottfried Kirch, who had studied under astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Winckelmann and Kirch...