JOHANN HIERONYMUS SCHROTER (1745-1816), German astronomer, was born at Erfurt on the 30th of August 1745. Having studied law at Gottingen, he became chief magistrate at Lilienthal, near Bremen, in 1788. Here he built an observatory, and, equipped in 1785 by a 7-ft. reflector by Herschel, and later by a 13-ft. reflector by Johann Gottlieb Friedrich Schrader of Kiel, he made his famous observations on the surface features of the moon and planets. His work was ruined in 1813 by the French under Vandamme, who destroyed his books, writings and observatory; he never recovered from the catastrophe, and died on the 29th of August 1816.