Paolo Maffei

Paolo Maffei (* 1926 in Arezzo, † 1 March 2009) was an Italian astronomer.

Short Biography

Maffei graduated in Florence. He then worked as an astronomer at observatories in Arcetri, Asiago, Bologna and Hamburg. Later, he became director of the observatory of Catania.

Maffei worked on comets, variable stars, the evolution of the universe and the history of astronomy. He was one of the pioneers of infrared astronomy. In 1968 he discovered during observations in the near infrared range, the giant elliptical galaxy Maffei 1 and Maffei 2 the barred spiral galaxy, the largest members of the Maffei group.

He was known by several publications, including more than Halley's Comet.

The asteroid ( 18426 ) Maffei was named after him in 2002.

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