Ludwig Franz Benedikt Biermann (March 13, 1907 in Hamm - January 12, 1986 in München) was a German astronomer, obtaining his Ph.D. from Göttingen University in 1932.[1]
He made important contributions to astrophysics and plasma physics, discovering the Biermann battery. He predicted the existence of the solar wind which in 1947 he dubbed "solar corpuscular radiation".
He was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in the fall of 1961.[2] He won the Bruce Medal in 1967 and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1974.
Asteroid 73640 Biermann is named in his honor.