Eduard Schönfeld

On leaving the gymnasium, he desired to devote himself to astronomy, but abandoned the idea in deference to his father's wishes.

In 1853, he was appointed assistant, and in the following year won a doctor's degree with his treatise Nova elementa Thetidis.

He took up the investigation of the light-changes in variable stars, devoting to this work nights which, on account of moonlight, were unsuitable for zone observations.

The results of his observations of nebulae are contained in two catalogues published in the Astronomische Beobachtungen der Grossherzoglichen Sternwarte zu Mannheim, 1st and 2nd parts (1862 and 1875), and those of his variable star observations appeared in the Jahresberichte des Mannheimer Vereins für Naturkunde, Nos.

The experience gained on the northern survey under Argelander's direction enabled Schönfeld to introduce some improvements in the methods employed, which increased the accuracy of this work, which was practically accomplished in March 1881, some revision only remaining to be done.