Johann Gottfried Galle

Johann Gottfried Galle was a German astronomer from Radis, Germany, at the Berlin Observatory who, on 23 September 1846, with the assistance of student Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, was the first person to view the planet Neptune and know what he was looking at. Urbain Le Verrier had predicted the existence and position of Neptune, and sent the coordinates to Galle, asking him to verify. Galle found Neptune in the same night he received Le Verrier's letter, within 1° of the predicted position. The discovery of Neptune is widely regarded as a dramatic validation of celestial mechanics, and is one of the most remarkable moments of 19th-century science.

9 June 1812

Born on the same birth day (9 June): Carl Nielsen • Daniël Heinsius • George Jennings (rugby league) • Heather Mitts • John Le Lievre • Jurij Brězan • Mae Whitman • Mick O'Dwyer • Rudolf Wojtowicz • Yoshito Ōkubo

Born in the same month (June 1812): Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston • Edmond Hébert • Ivan Goncharov