Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers was a German astronomer born on October 11, 1758. He is best known for discovering several asteroids, including Ceres and Pallas, and for his work in celestial mechanics. Olbers also contributed to the understanding of the structure of the universe and the nature of comets. One of Olbers' most famous contributions is Olbers' Paradox, which questions why the night sky is dark if the universe is infinite and filled with stars. He proposed that the universe is not static and that light from distant stars takes time to reach us, influencing our perception of the cosmos. Olbers passed away on March 2, 1840.