Rudolf König

Who was Rudolf König?

Rudolf König was an Austrian merchant, amateur astronomer and selenographer.

He was born in Vienna and received his technical education in Leipzig. After graduation he went into his father's business.

As he had an interest in astronomy, in 1906 he built a private observatory in Vienna, on the top of his house, 12 Kuppelwiesergasse.

From this observatory, with a double Zeiss astrograph, he carried out many observations of the Moon.

In 1912 he published a volume of illustrations of the Moon made by his deceased friend Johann Krieger.

The crater König on the Moon is named after him.

In 1929, after the death of Rudolf König, his telescope was bought by the Stefanik Observatory in Prague and placed under the main dome, where it is still in use.