1978

Asteroid named in honor of Frederick Cottrell.

On March 30, 1955, astronomers at Indiana University’s Goethe Link Observatory, near Brooklyn, Indiana, discovered an asteroid. In 1977, in honor of the centennial year of the birth of Research Corporation’s founder Frederick Gardner Cottrell, astronomers at the observatory named the asteroid “Minor Planet (2026) Cottrell.” Grants from RC had funded the purchase of an instrument used in the minor planet program at the Goethe Link Observatory.

A minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is neither a dominant planet nor a comet.

When minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Minor Planet Center. The discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU’s naming conventions. Names are judged by the Committee for Small-Body Nomenclature of the IAU, comprised of professional astronomers from around the world. According to the IAU Minor Planet website, “Names of pet animals are discouraged.”