Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten

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Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten (July 13, 1753–June 10, 1849) was an Austrian printer and scientist. His name is sometimes given as Alois von Beckh-Widmannstätten or Aloys Beck, Edler von Widmannstätten.

During his youth he was trained in the printing art by his father. His family owned exclusive printing rights in the Steiermark province, but this was lost in 1784 and Alois sold the business in 1807. In 1804 he ran a spinning mill in Pottendorf, Austria.

Starting in 1807 he was placed in charge of the Fabriksproduktenkabinett, a private collection of technology owned by the Emperor. In 1808 he was the director of the Imperial Porcelain works in Vienna.

He discovered, by etching, some amazing patterns now called Widmanstätten patterns in iron meteorites. The first one he worked on was the Elbogen meteorite, but larger samples were found at the Henbury craters.

The Widmannstätten crater on the Moon was also named in his honor.