Wilhelmine Sophie Elizabeth Witte (née Böttcher; 17 November 1777[1] – 17 September 1854) was a German amateurastronomer. Böttcher was born in 1777 inHanover, the daughter of Johanne Sophie Marie, (née Brinkmann; 1755–1824) and of senator Gottfried Ernst Böttcher (1750–1823).[2][3] She married privy councilor Friedrich Christian Witte (1773–1854) on 17 November 1797[4] and they had 14 children, includingMinna,Theodor andFriedrich Ernst.
She was interested in astronomy and bought her firsttelescope in 1815 (aFraunhofer-Refrakter, the best telescope on the market at that time). She used this with the existing maps of the Moon's surface (byJohann Heinrich von Mädler) to develop aterrain model of the Moon.[1] Her globe, with a diameter of 34 centimeters, was presented by Mädler at an 1839 congress inBad Pyrmont and can be seen today at theHistorisches Museum Hannover. One year before, she presented a draft version to the astronomerJohn Herschel.[5] In 1840, she presented the globe to scientists and members of the Prussian royal household. It was afterwards bought by the royal family. In 1844, Witte prepared a new version of the globe which was presented by Herschel to the Society for the Advancement of Science at Cambridge.[6]
In 2006 theIAU named apatera onVenus "Witte Patera [it;fr]" after her in honor of her exploits in mapping the topography of the Moon.[5] In 2011, a street in theKirchrode district of Hanover was named after her.[6]
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