 Gottfried Kirch

Gottfried Kirch (; also Kirche , Kirkius; 18 December 1639 – 25 July 1710) was a German astronomer and the first 'Astronomer Royal' in Berlin and, as such, director of the nascent Berlin Observatory.The son of Michael Kirch, a shoemaker in Guben, Electorate of Saxony, initially he worked as a schoolmaster in Langgrün and Neundorf near Lobenstein.