David Gill (astronomer)
Sir David Gill (born June 12, 1843 in Aberdeen , Scotland , † January 24, 1914 in London ) was a British astronomer .
Gill initially occupied himself practically with astronomy at the observatory in Aberdeen (1866) and set up his own observatory in his father's house in 1868. In 1872 he built an observatory in Dun Echt near Aberdeen on behalf of Lord Lindsay and became its director. As such, he undertook an expedition to Mauritius in 1874 to determine the parallax of the sun by means of heliometer measurements. On this occasion he made some important length determinations.
In 1876 he gave up his position in Dun Echt and went on a trip to Ascension Island . Here Gill used the parallax of Mars to determine the distance to the sun. He also perfected the use of the heliometer .
He was Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope . He also processed the observations made between 1835 and 1881 of over 500 star occultations, organized and directed a series of telegraphic longitude determinations on the African coast and in 1882 organized the South African stations for observing the passage of Venus .
In 1883, Gill began a geodetic survey of South Africa . He was also a pioneer in astrophotography. His survey of the southern starry sky, carried out between 1885 and 1890 , included all stars between −20 ° south latitude and the south pole up to size 9.5. The recordings also formed the basis for many interesting star discoveries, such as Kapteyn's star , which could be discovered on his photographic plates brought to Europe.
Between 1888 and 1890, Gill, in collaboration with a number of other observatories, based on a project he had designed, carried out a series of observations of the asteroids Iris , Victoria and Sappho to determine a more precise value of the solar parallax.
In 1885 he became a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg , in 1892 an honorary member ( Honorary Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and in 1896 a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences in Paris. In 1900 David Gill was awarded the Bruce Medal . In 1898 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences , 1910 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society . He received the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society twice (1882 and 1908).
David Gill died in London on January 24, 1914.
The asteroid (11761) Davidgill , the lunar crater Gill and the Martian crater Gill are named after him.
Web links
- Publications by D. Gill in the Astrophysics Data System
- Obituaries for D. Gill in the Astrophysics Data System
- Biography on the websites of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa
Individual evidence
- ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724: Gill, David. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed December 8, 2019 (Russian).
- ^ Member History: Sir David Gill. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 20, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gill, David |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 12, 1843 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aberdeen |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 24, 1914 |
| Place of death | London |