Hugh Percy Wilkins

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Hugh Percy Wilkins (born December 4, 1896 in Carmarthen ; died January 23, 1960 in Bexleyheath , London) was a Welsh engineer and amateur astronomer . He was particularly known for his large, hand-drawn moon maps.

Life

Wilkins was born in Carmarthen, where he received his early education. He then lived near Llanelli before moving to England. During the First World War he served in the Royal Army Corps. He was a trained mechanical engineer and civil servant, but his fame is based on his achievements as an amateur astronomer , especially as a selenographer .

As an amateur astronomer, Wilkins observed mainly from his home in Kent, initially with a 12½-inch reflector; later with a 15½-inch reflector. He also made observations with the telescopes at professional observatories in Europe and the United States. In 1918 he was elected to the British Astronomical Association and was director of the local lunar section from 1946 to 1956 .

He created a hand-drawn 100-inch (2.54 m) map of the Moon , consisting of 25 individual pages, which at the time of its publication was the map with the most detail ever documented. It also included new names for a number of details and characteristics that Wilkins himself had determined. In 1948 he applied to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to accept 22 new names that he had determined. His proposals were rejected on the grounds that these features were very small or already had letter names. The card is kept at the Royal Greenwich Observatory ; but was framed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing by Apollo 11 and shown in the special exhibition on the moon in 2019.

In 1951, he published a lunar map 300 inches (7.62 m) in diameter, considered by some to be "the pinnacle of the pre- space age selenography art ". His maps were very detailed, but some details were fictitious which made them less useful. In 1952 and 1955 he made additional inquiries to the IAU, but these were also rejected. However, names given by Wilkins on his 1926 map later, in 1935, became part of the lunar nomenclature, namely Goodacre and Mee craters .

Wilkins attended evening astronomy classes for many years at Crayford Manor House in Crayford , where a copy of his 300-inch map continued to be used in the observatory. He published a number of books aimed at popularizing astronomy, including two works in collaboration with Sir Patrick Moore . The most notable was his work The Moon , which included his drawn moon map.

Wilkins died on January 23, 1960, having only retired on December 31, 1959. He was married and had a daughter.

The lunar crater Wilkins with a diameter of 60 km and a depth of 2770 m was named by the IAU after Hugh Percy Wilkins in 1961.

bibliography

  • HP Wilkins: 300-inch Moon map . 1951.
  • HP Wilkins: The True Book About the Stars . Muller, London 1953.
  • HP Wilkins: Our Moon . Muller, London 1954.
  • HP Wilkins, Patrick Moore: The Moon; A Complete Description of the Surface of the Moon . Faber and Faber, London 1955.
  • HP Wilkins: Mysteries of Space and Time . Muller, London 1955.
  • HP Wilkins: Clouds, Rings and Crocodiles: By Spaceship Round the Planets . 1955.
  • HP Wilkins, Patrick Moore: Making and using a telescope; the home assembly and applications of astronomical equipment . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1956.
  • HP Wilkins: Guide to the Heavens . F. Muller, London 1956.
  • HP Wilkins: Instructions to Young Astronomers . Museum Press, London 1957.
  • HP Wilkins: The True Book About the Moon . F. Muller, London 1960.

He also wrote several articles for Popular Astronomy magazine .

literature

  • Ewen A. Whitaker: Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature . Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-521-62248-4 , pp. 171 f., 230 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituary: Hugh Percival Wilkins . In: Journal of the British Astronomical Association . tape 70 , p. 237–238 ( harvard.edu [accessed December 14, 2019]).
  2. ↑ a b c Mapping the Moon: the story of the Wilkins Moon map. In: Royal Museums Greenwich. July 5, 2019, accessed December 14, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Dr. W. Roscoe Howells: Hugh Percy Wilkins 1896-1960. In: Llanelli Community Heritage. Retrieved December 14, 2019 : "the culmination of the art of selenography prior to the space age"
  4. ↑ Martin Sawden: Over the moon at launch of great new space age. In: Kentish Times; today: Bexley Times. July 16, 2009, accessed December 14, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b letter: Wilkins daughter ME Coombes to the Kentish Times . In: Kentish Times; today: Bexley Times. August 6, 2009, accessed December 14, 2019 .
  6. ^ John E. Westfall: Atlas of the Lunar Terminator . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-59002-7 .
personal data
SURNAME Wilkins, Hugh Percy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilkins, Hugh Percival (full name); Wilkins, HP
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh engineer, amateur astronomer and selenographer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Carmarthen , Wales
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1960
Place of death Bexleyheath , London