Jean-Louis Pons

Jean-Louis Pons (24 December 176114 October 1831) was a French astronomer. Despite humble beginnings and being self-taught, he went on to become the greatest visual comet discoverer of all time: between 1801 and 1827 Pons discovered thirty-seven comets, more than any other person in history.

Pons worked at three observatories in his career, Marseille Observatory, where he was also trained, a short-lived observatory at Royal Park La Marlia in Tuscany, and finally at an observatory in Florence.

Career as an astronomer Pons made his first comet discovery, jointly attributed to Charles Messier, on 11 July 1801. Around that time he accepted the opportunity to become Director of the Florence Observatory at the request of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Record and legacy Pons is noted for discovering 37 comets in the early 1800s. As of 1960 this was recognized as the greatest number of comets discovered by a single person.

Of the 37, 28 were determined to have parabolic orbits, and three did not have enough observation to determine an orbit. However, many of his discoveries fueled the discovery or recovery of what were later recognized as periodic comets, including Comet Pons-Brook and Comet Pons-Winnecke.

The comet 273P/Pons–Gambart, which Pons had observed in 1827, was recovered in 2012.