Leo Anton Karl de Ball

Leo Anton Carl de Ball ( born November 23, 1853 in Lobberich, † December 12, 1916 in Vienna ) was a German astronomer.

De Ball studied at the universities of Berlin and Bonn. In 1878 he became an assistant at the observatory Gotha. Here he worked under the direction Adalbert Krueger as observers in various instruments. He published his results in numerous publications. After the departure of Krueger Gotha, he was appointed acting head of the observatory. In 1881 he moved to the observatory Bothkamp at Kiel, which at that time had the largest telescope in Germany. This private observatory of the chamberlain von Bülow, he eventually served as director. On 3 September 1882 he was discovered by Bothkamp from the asteroid (230 ) Athamantis.

1883 was de ball to Belgium and worked at the observatories of Liege and Uccle. From 1891 he was director of the private but highly recognized Kuffner Observatory in Vienna.

De Ball published papers on the proper motion of the solar system and on Spherical Astronomy. He also created detailed tables for astronomical refraction, the refraction of light from celestial objects through the Earth's atmosphere.