Milorad B. Protić

Milorad B. Protić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милорад Б. Протић; 19 September 1911, Belgrade – 29 October 2001, Belgrade) was a Serbian astronomer, discoverer of comets and minor planets, and three times director of the Belgrade Observatory.[2]

Milorad B. Protić

He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 7 numbered asteroids during 1936–1952,[1] including 1675 Simonida, named after queen Simonida, wife of medieval Serbian king Stefan Milutin, and 2348 Michkovitch, a rare Erigone asteroid named after Vojislav Mišković (1892–1976), who was a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and head of the Belgrade Observatory.[3] Protić also independently discovered comet C/1947 Y1.[2]

He died on 29 October 2001 in Belgrade. The main-belt asteroid 22278 Protitch, discovered by Henri Debehogne at ESO's Chilean La Silla site in 1983, was named in his memory.[2] Naming citation was published on 30 December 2001 (M.P.C. 44186).[4]

Also, the outer main-belt asteroid 1724 Vladimir is named after Protić's grandson, while 5397 Vojislava is named after Vojislava Protić-Benišek, his daughter, who has been a member of the observatory's staff since 1972, where she continues her father's work on celestial mechanics and minor planets, together with her son.