Paul Herget (January 30, 1908 – August 27, 1981) was an American astronomer and director of the Cincinnati Observatory, who established the Minor Planet Center after World War II.
He was a pioneer in the use of machine methods, and eventually digital computers, in the solving of scientific and specifically astronomical problems (for example, in the calculation of ephemeris tables for minor planets).
The Minor Planet Center was eventually relocated in 1978 to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it still operates.
His collected work is known as The Names of the Minor Planets and was published by the Cincinnati Observatory in 1955 and 1968.
[8] Herget's discovery circumstances were later incorporated into the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, which was prepared by astronomer Lutz Schmadel on behalf of IAU's commission 20.