Anders Johan Lexell Anders Johan Lexell Anders Johan Lexell (24 December 1740 – ) was a Finnish-Swedish astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who spent most of his life in Imperial Russia, where he was known as Andrei Ivanovich Leksel (Андрей Иванович Лексель). Lexell made important discoveries in polygonometry and celestial mechanics; the latter led to a comet named in his honour. La Grande Encyclopédie states that he was the prominent mathematician of his time who contributed to spherical trigonometry with new and interesting solutions, which he took as a basis for his research of comet and planet motion. His name was given to a
Christian Mayer (astronomer) able to continue his astronomical observations and studies. He applied for and was granted in December 1765 a Fellowship of the Royal Society. He is most noted for pioneering the study of binary stars, although his equipment was ill-suitable for distinguishing between true binaries and coincident star alignments. In 1777-78 he compiled a catalog of 80 double stars, which he published in 1781. During his lifetime he became a member of numerous learned societies. He died in Heidelberg. Christian Mayer (astronomer) Christian Mayer (August 20, 1719 – April 16, 1783) was a Czech-German Catholic priest, astronomer and teacher. He was