837 Schwarzschilda, provisional designation 1916 AG, is a low-eccentric, well-observedasteroid from theasteroid belt, orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.48 years at a distance of 2.21–2.39AU. It was discovered by German astronomerMax Wolf atHeidelberg Observatory on 23 September 1916.[1]
The main-belt asteroid was named after physicist and astronomerKarl Schwarzschild (1873–1916), who had died earlier that year. He was director of the observatories inGöttingen andPotsdam, known for his work in photometry, geometrical optics, stellar statistics and theoretical astrophysics, most notably for producing the first exact solutions to Einstein'sfield equations.[2] At the time, it was custom to give feminized names to minor planets.