John Russell Hind
| John Russell Hind | |
|---|---|
 John Russell Hind c. 1860s | |
| Born |
May 12, 1823 Nottingham |
| Died |
December 23, 1895 (aged 72) Twickenham, London |
| Known for | Discovery of asteroids and variable stars |
John Russell Hind FRS (May 12, 1823 – December 23, 1895) was an English astronomer.
Life and work
John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham, the son of lace manufacturer John Hind, and was educated at Nottingham High School. 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.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June, 1863[2] and President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1880.[3]
He died in 1895 in Twickenham, London. Hind had married Fanny Fuller in 1846; he and his wife had six children.
| 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 |
Honours and legacy
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1853)
- Fellow of the Royal Society (1863)
- The crater Hind on the Moon
- Asteroid 1897 Hind
- Comets C/1847 C1 (Hind) and C/1846 O1 (de Vico-Hind).
Notes
Some sources give his name as John Russel Hind with only one "L". However, civil records[4] and 19th century British astronomical magazines consistently spell his name with two "L"s.
References
- ↑ "Obituary Notices: Hind, John Russell". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 56: 200–210. 1896. Bibcode:[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1896MNRAS..56..200. 1896MNRAS..56..200.]
- ↑ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
- ↑ "Death Of John Russell Hind" (pdf). New York Times. December 24, 1895. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
- ↑ "Deaths Dec 1895 — Hind John Russell 72 Brentford 3a 46". FreeBMD. London: Office for National Statistic. 1895. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
Further reading
- Plummer, William E. (1896). "Dr. John Russell Hind, F.R.S". Astronomische Nachrichten 139 (16): 255. Bibcode:1896AN....139..255P. doi:10.1002/asna.18961391609. Unknown parameter
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External links
- "Hind's variable nebula". Retrieved 2008-05-20.- also known as T Tauri
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