Rudolf Ferdinand Spitaler

Rudolf Ferdinand Spitaler (7 January 1849 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian astronomer, geophysicist, meteorologist and climatologist.

He discovered 64 IC objects whilst working at Vienna Observatory and Comet 113P/Spitaler.

He was one of the first to speculate the existence of a 13th zodiacal constellation, which later became known as Ophiuchus.

Selected works

 * Zeichnungen und Photographien am Grubb’schen Refractor von 68cm (27 engl. Zoll) Öffnung in den Jahren 1885 bis 1890 (1891)
 * Bahnbestimmung des Kometen 1851 III (Brorsen) (1894)
 * Periodische Verschiebungen des Schwerpunktes der Erde (1905)
 * Die Achsenschwankungen der Erde als Ursache der Auslösung von Erdbeben (1913)
 * Das Klima des Eiszeitalters (1921)