Johann Franz Encke was a German astronomer born on September 23, 1791, in Hamburg. He is best known for his work on the orbits of comets, particularly the periodic comet Encke's Comet, which he calculated and confirmed to have a short orbital period of about 3.3 years. Encke's contributions to celestial mechanics significantly advanced the understanding of cometary motion. In addition to his work on comets, Encke also made important contributions to the study of planetary orbits and stellar parallax. He served as the director of the Berlin Observatory and published numerous scientific papers throughout his career. Encke passed away on August 26, 1865, leaving a lasting legacy in the field of astronomy.