Wilhelm, Freiherr von Biela

Wilhelm, Freiherr von Biela (born March 19, 1782, Rossla, Stolberg am Harz, Saxony—died Feb. 18, 1856, Venice) was an Austrian astronomer who is noted for his discovery (1826) that a certain comet, now called Biela’s comet, reappeared at intervals of 6.7 years. Biela’s comet underwent remarkable transformations, returning in 1845 and 1852 as a double comet and then disappearing until 1872, when its fragments returned as a meteor shower, the Andromedides, that traced the comet’s...