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Xi Zezong (June 6, 1927, Yuanqu, Shanxi – December 27, 2008, Beijing) was a Chinese astronomer, historian, and translator. He was a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an awardee of the Astronomy Prize.

He identified a possible reference to one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter in the fragmentary ancient works of the 4th-century BC Chinese astronomer Gan De, who may have made observation of either Ganymede or Callisto in summer 365 BC.

Honors

Asteroid 85472 Xizezong, discovered by the Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program in 1997, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on April 2, 2007 (M.P.C. 59388).

References

1. "In Memoriam: Xi Zezong". Newsletter of the History of Science Society. April 2009. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
2. "Science historian XI Zezong, 81, passes away". Retrieved October 20, 2011.
3. Xi, Zezong Z. (February 1981). "The Discovery of Jupiter's Satellite Made by Gan De 2000 years Before Galileo". Acta Astrophysica Sinica. 1 (2): 87. Bibcode:1981AcApS...1...85X.
4. Hughes, David W. (1982). "Was Galileo 2,000 Years Too Late?". Nature. 296 (5854): 199. Bibcode:1982Natur.296..199H. doi:10.1038/296199a0. S2CID 5313894.
5. "(85472) Xizezong = 1997 LF4 = 2000 EJ21". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
6. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved January 20, 2020.

External links

• 85472 Xizezong, JPL Small-Body Database Browser

• 1927 births
• 2008 deaths
• 20th-century Chinese translators
• 21st-century Chinese translators
• 20th-century Chinese astronomers
• Historians from Shanxi
• Historians of astronomy
• Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• People from Yuncheng
• 21st-century Chinese historians
• 21st-century Chinese science writers
• Scientists from Shanxi