Franz Friedrich Ernst Brünnow (18 November 1821 – 20 August 1891) was a German astronomer.
He was the first foreigner to become director of an American observatory, serving as director of Detroit Observatory (at the University of Michigan) from 1854 to 1863. He played a major role in establishing the study of astronomy in the United States at a time when the only other serious faculty was run by Benjamin Peirce at Harvard University. He introduced the teaching of rigorous German analytical methods and trained a number of students who went on to further American astronomy, including Asaph Hall and James Craig Watson (the latter succeeded him as director of Detroit Observatory). In addition, Charles Augustus Young learned German astronomical methods from Brünnow although he did not attend the University of Michigan.
He succeeded William R Hamilton as Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin and Royal Astronomer of Ireland at Dunsink Observatory.
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Early career
Brünnow was born in Berlin to Johann and Wilhelmine (née Weppler)
and attended the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium. In 1839 he entered the University of Berlin, where he studied mathematics, astronomy and physics, as well as chemistry, philosophy and philology. After graduating as PhD in 1843 he took an active part in astronomical work at the Berlin Observatory, under the direction of Johann Franz Encke, contributing numerous important papers on the orbits of comets and minor planets to the Astronomische Nachrichten.