Named in memory of Ottaviano Fabrizio Mossotti (1791–1863), who studied at the Brera Observatory and then went as an exile to Geneva and London. In 1827 he was named engineer astronomer and professor of calculus and physics at the University of Buenos Aires. He then went to the University of Corfu (1838–1841) and in 1848 became professor of celestial mechanics and geodesy at the University of Pisa, where he remained until his death. He is celebrated for his memoir Nuova analisi del problema di determinazione delle orbite and for his books Nuova teoria degli strumenti ottici, Lezioni di Fisica Matematica and Meccanica Razionale. (M 17981) _ _.