David Gill (astronomer)
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David Gill redirects here. For other people of the same name, see David Gill (disambiguation)
Sir David Gill (June 12, 1843 – January 24, 1914) was a Scottish astronomer born in Aberdeen who spent much of his career in South Africa.
He used the parallax of Mars to determine the distance to the Sun, and also measured distances to the stars. He perfected the use of the heliometer. He was Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope from 1879 to 1906. He was a pioneer in the use of astrophotography, and one of the early proponents of the Carte du Ciel project.
[edit] Honours
Awards
- Bruce Medal (1900)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1882 and 1908)
- James Craig Watson Medal (1899)
Named after him
- Gill crater on the Moon
- Crater on Mars
[edit] External links
- Bruce Medal page
- Awarding of Bruce Medal: PASP 12 (1900) 49
- Awarding of RAS gold medal, 1882: MNRAS 42 (1882) 216
- Awarding of RAS gold medal, 1908: MNRAS 68 (1908) 317
