Otto Kippes

Otto Kippes (1905–1994) was a German Catholic priest and amateur astronomer. He was acknowledged especially for his work in asteroid orbit calculations, which brought him the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1991. In 1959, the Berlin Academy of Sciences awarded him the Leibniz Medal for his contributions in the identification of minor planets. The main belt asteroid 1780 Kippes was named in his honour. Kippes in turn had successfully proposed to name several asteroids after fellow amateur astronomers.