Who discovered the asteroid 55 Pandora in 1858?

George Mary Searle discovered asteroid 55 Pandora in 1858.

Searle made the discovery on September 10, 1858, at the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York. Pandora became the 55th numbered minor planet, receiving the provisional designation 1858 E before it was assigned its permanent number and mythological name.

Asteroid 55 Pandora is a main-belt asteroid, meaning it travels around the Sun in the broad region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Its name comes from Pandora, the figure in Greek mythology associated with the container that released troubles into the world. The asteroid is unrelated to Saturn’s moon Pandora except for the shared mythological name.

George Mary Searle later became known for astronomy and for his work at the Dudley Observatory. Pandora’s discovery belongs to the period when astronomers were rapidly identifying new minor planets and naming many of them after figures from Greek and Roman mythology.