Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (21 June 1863 – 3 October 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography.

His father encouraged an interest in science and built an observatory for his son in the garden of the family home.

He spent one year of post-graduate study in Stockholm, the only significant time he would spend outside of Heidelberg in his life.

Wolf immediately designed and ordered a double refractor telescope from American astronomer and instrument builder John Brashear.

This instrument, known as the Bruce double-astrograph, with parallel 16 in (41 cm) lenses and a fast f/5 focal ratio, became the observatory's primary research telescope.

World War I intervened before the invention could be developed, but the Carl Zeiss company resumed this project after peace was restored.

In collaboration with E. E. Barnard, Wolf proved, by careful photographic analysis, that dark nebulae were huge clouds of fine opaque dust.

The Bruce double-astrograph was originally designed to hunt dim asteroids but it was found to be ideally suited for the study of the proper motion of low-luminosity stars using much the same technique.

The methods used by E. E. Barnard and Wolf were continued by Frank Elmore Ross and George Van Biesbroeck through the mid-20th century.

[2] In time-exposure photographs, asteroids appear as short streaks due to their planetary motion with respect to fixed stars.

[13] Wolf's then-record number of discoveries was surpassed by his pupil Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth on 24 July 1933.

Pawona is a combination of "Palisa" and "Wolf" (Pa, Wo) joined with a Latin feminine suffix.