Robert von Sterneck



Robert von Sterneck (Robert Freiherr Daublebsky von Sterneck the Elder, 1839–1910) was a member of the Budweis Daublebsky von Sterneck baronial family who served as an Austro-Hungarian general major, geophysicist and astronomer. He studied in Prague and entered the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1859, participating in the Magenta und Solferino campaign that year and in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. From 1862 to 1880, he served head of the astronomical-geodetic section of the military geographic institute in Vienna, and from 1880 to 1902 as the head of the institute's astronomical observatory. He led numerous geodetic missions in the Balkans during the 1870s.

He specialized in measuring gravitational acceleration and the density and interior structure of Earth. Cape Sterneck in Antarctica is named for him. His son, Robert Daublebsky von Sterneck the Younger (1871–1928) was professor of mathematics at Graz.