Johann Bayer

Johann Bayer was born in Rain in 1572 and trained as a lawyer at the University of Ingolstadt, eventually becoming legal adviser to Augsburg's city council in 1612. But his side interests ran to archaeology, mathematics, and astronomy - particularly the problem of fixing celestial positions. In 1603 he published Uranometria Omnium Asterismorum, the first star atlas to chart the entire celestial sphere, building on Tycho Brahe's observations and adding a thousand stars beyond earlier works. The atlas introduced what became known as Bayer designation: the lettering system that gives us names like Alpha Centauri and still anchors how we refer to stars. He never married, died in Augsburg in 1625, and left behind a lunar crater bearing his name.