| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
He directed the Hamburg Observatory from 1941 to 1962, after which he became the first director of the European Southern Observatory. He actively contributed to the creation of the third catalog of the Astronomische Gesellschaft. He also contributed to cosmology based on the fundamentals of general relativity, and wrote the book Theorien der Kosmologie.
He won the James Craig Watson Medal in 1961 and the Bruce Medal in 1964.
The asteroid 1650 Heckmann is named after him.