Frederick Slocum
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Frederick Slocum (February 6, 1873–December 4, 1944) was an American astronomer.
He was born the son of a sea captain, and was educated at Brown University. He joined Yerkes Observatory in 1909 as an assistant, and remained there until 1911. He assisted Samuel A. Mitchell in research with parallax measurement techniques, and these were published in 1913.
In 1914 he became the first professor of astronomy at Wesleyan University, and supervised construction of the Van Vleck Observatory. He became director of the observatory in 1915, and held this post until 1944. During World War I, however, he was absent while training merchant captains in the skill of navigation. He also spent some time at Brown University in charge of the Department of Naval Science, before returning.
He was a member of the American Astronomical Society and would join the Committee on Stellar Parallaxes. Their work would eventually result in the "Yale Parallax Catalogue".
Slocum crater on the Moon is named after him.
[edit] Bibliography
- Slocum, F. & Mitchell, S. A., "Stellar parallaxes from photographs made with the 40-inch refractor of the Yerkes Observatory", Astrophysical Journal, volume 38, 1913.
- Frederick Slocum, "Effects of Atmospheric Dispersion upon Determinations of Stellar Parallax", The Astrophysical Journal, volume 59, 1924.
