AP Photo

IN THE MIDDLE OF Gale crater on Mars, lies a huge, raised mound of layered rock that, from above, resembles the shape of the island nation of Australia. It’s fitting, then, that this crater is named after an Australian astronomer, Walter Frederick Gale. 

Gale was born in the Sydney suburb of Paddington on 27 November 1865. His professional career was not in astronomy, but finance; he started off in insurance and then proceeding into banking, rising to become manager and chief inspector at the head office of the Savings Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac).