Jump to content

John Russell Hind

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Auntof6 (talk | contribs) at 07:36, 6 June 2009 (Remove dup cats and/or general cleanup using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

John Russell Hind.
Asteroids discovered: 10
7 Iris August 13 1847
8 Flora October 18 1847
12 Victoria September 13 1850
14 Irene May 19 1851
18 Melpomene June 24 1852
19 Fortuna August 22 1852
22 Kalliope November 16 1852
23 Thalia December 15 1852
27 Euterpe November 8 1853
30 Urania July 22 1854

John Russell Hind FRS (May 12 1823December 23 1895) was an English astronomer. Some sources give his name as John Russel Hind with only one "L". However, 19th century British astronomical magazines consistently spell his name with two "L"s.

Life and work

John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham. At age 17 he went to London to serve an apprenticeship as a civil engineer, but through the help of Charles Wheatstone he left engineering to accept a position at the Royal Greenwich Observatory under George Biddell Airy.[1] Hind remained there from 1840 to 1844, at which time he succeeded W. R. Dawes as director of the private observatory of George Bishop. In 1853 Hind became Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, a position he held until 1891.

Hind is notable for being one of the early discoverers of asteroids. He also discovered and observed the variable stars R Leporis (also known as Hind's Crimson Star), U Geminorum, and T Tauri (also called Hind's Variable Nebula), and discovered the variability of μ Cephei. Hind discovered Nova Ophiuchi 1848 (V841 Ophiuchi), the first nova of modern times (since the supernova SN 1604).

Hind's naming of the asteroid 12 Victoria caused some controversy. At the time, asteroids were not supposed to be named after living persons. Hind somewhat disingenuously claimed that the name was not a reference to Queen Victoria, but the mythological figure Victoria.

Hind married in 1846, and he and his wife had six children. He died in 1895 in Twickenham, London.

Honours and legacy

References

  1. ^ "Obituary Notices: Hind, John Russell". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 56: 200–210. 1896. Retrieved 2008-05020. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)

Further reading