Eugène Joseph Delporte (January 10, 1872–October 19, 1955) was a Belgian astronomer.
Early Life
Born on January 10 1872 to Eugène-Marie and Alice Delporte, in Antwerp, Belgium, his father served as a member of the Force Publique in the Congo Free State and the family subsequently lived in the Belgian Congo from 1884-1896, his brother, Patrice Yves Delporte was born in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) in 1880.
Marriage, Children and notable Descendents
Delporte married Marie Celeste du Bois on November 6 1912, they had two sons and a daughter. Eugène Alexandre Delporte (1903-1976), Michaél Anthonie Delporte (1907-1967) and Louise Marie Delporte (1905-1989). Michaél Anthonie moved to South Africa in the 1930's and changed his surname to Delport. Michaél married Johanna Marie van Aswegen (1903-1983) and they had several chidren. The Delport family, descended from Michaél and Johanna, still reside in South Africa, Michaél's second son, Jacobus Christopé Delport (b.1935) married The. Honourable Katleen Elizabeth Chatterley (b.1939) who is the daughter of a British aristocrat and a relative of Lord Nelson. Jacobus "Jimmy" Delport lived in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe for many years and owned several large tobacco farms (which have since been invaded by Zimbabwean War Veterans), he is the father of well known businessmen Anthony Delport (b.1963) and Darren Delport (b.1966). Two other children were born to the family. Darren Delport's eldest son, Jarrod Delport (b.1992) is a youth activst and one of the Founding members of the Democartic Alliance Youth (DAY).
Discoveries
He discovered a total of sixty-six asteroids. Notable discoveries include 1221 Amor (which lent its name to the Amor asteroids) and the Apollo asteroid 2101 Adonis. He discovered or co-discovered some comets as well, including periodic comet 57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte. He worked in the Observatoire Royal de Belgique (Belgian Royal Observatory), situated in the town of Uccle (after which the asteroid 1276 Ucclia is named).
In 1930 he fixed the modern boundaries between all of the constellations in the sky, along lines of right ascension and declination for the epoch B1875.0.
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