Milton L. Humason
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Milton Lasell Humason (August 19, 1891 – June 18, 1972) was as American astronomer. He was born in Dodge Center, Minnesota.
He dropped out of school and had no formal education past the age of 14. Because he loved the mountains, and Mount Wilson in particular, he became a "mule skinner" taking materials and equipment up the mountain while Mount Wilson Observatory was being built. In 1917, after a short stint on a ranch in La Verne, he became a janitor at the Mount Wilson Observatory. Out of sheer interest, he volunteered to be a night assistant at the observatory. His technical skill and quiet manner made him a favorite on the mountain. Recognizing his talent, in 1919, George Ellery Hale made him a Mt. Wilson staff member. This was unprecedented, as Humason did not have a Ph.D., or even a high school diploma. He soon proved Hale's judgment correct, as he made several key observational discoveries. He became known as a meticulous observer, obtaining photographs and difficult spectrograms of faint galaxies. His observations played a major role in the development of physical cosmology, including assisting Edwin Hubble in formulating Hubble's law. He retired in 1957.
He discovered Comet C/1961 R1 (Humason), notable for its large perihelion distance.
Due to merest chance, Humason missed discovering Pluto. Eleven years before Clyde Tombaugh, Humason took a photograph in which the image of Pluto fell on a defect in the photographic plate and was not detected.
Much of the work Humason performed was actually credited to Hubble, the two of whom worked together for many years.
He died in Mendocino, California.
[edit] In Popular Culture
In the popular documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by astronomer Carl Sagan, Humason's life and work are portrayed on screen in episode 10: The Edge of Forever
There is a musical in development in the Charlotte, North Carolina area written by Stan Peal. It is based on a nonfiction account of Humason's life.
Boston band Big Dipper wrote a song about him called "Humason" on their album Heavens. In the liner notes of Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology, Bill Goffier says, "Milton Humason was a cowboy turned astronomer. While he was busy figuring out that the universe was expanding, his love life was a black hole."
[edit] Honors
- Humason crater on the Moon is named for him.
