He was born in
Halberstadt as the son of a preacher, and the nephew of
Gustav Adolf Wislicenus, founder of the "free religious movement" in Germany. After only one year of studies in
Leipzig he decided to move to
Strasbourg in 1880, where a new
observatory was close to completion. In 1882 he joined an expedition to observe the
transit of Venus at
Bahía Blanca as an assistant. In 1883 he started to work for the
Strasbourg Observatory. He was the main observer for the catalogue of southern
stars, created from 1884 to 1888. He received his
Ph.D in 1886 publishing works on the
rotational period of
Mars. A
crater on Mars and the
asteroid 4588 Wislicenus are named in his honor. ==External links==