James Craig Watson

James Craig Watson

James Craig Watson (born January 28, 1838 in Fingal , Ontario / Canada , † November 23, 1880 in Madison , Wisconsin ) was an American astronomer .

Live and act

List of asteroids discovered by Watson

(79) Eurynomials	September 14, 1863
(93) Minerva	August 24, 1867
(94) Aurora	September 6, 1867
(100) Hecate	July 11, 1868
(101) Helena	August 15, 1868
(103) Hera	September 7, 1868
(104) Clymene	September 13, 1868
(105) Artemis	September 16, 1868
(106) Dione	October 10, 1868
(115) Thyra	August 6, 1871
(119) Althaea	April 3, 1872
(121) Hermione	May 12, 1872
(128) Nemesis	November 25, 1872
(132) Aethra	June 13, 1873
(133) Cyrene	August 16, 1873
(139) Juewa	October 10, 1874
(150) Nuwa	October 18, 1875
(161) Athor	April 19, 1876
(168) Sibylla	September 28, 1876
(174) Phaedra	September 2, 1877
(175) Andromache	October 1, 1877
(179) Clytaemnestra	November 11, 1877

Watson is from the United States but was born while his parents were in Canada.

In 1857 he graduated from the University of Michigan . As a student he immersed himself in the celestial mechanical works of Pierre Simon Laplace , he ground optical lenses and constructed a telescope . After graduating, he got an assistant position at the chair of astronomy in Michigan . Due to his extensive observations and calculations - among other things, he discovered a comet in 1856 and determined the orbit of comet Donati in 1858 - he was appointed professor of astronomy in 1859 .

In 1863 he became director of the observatory. In the same year he discovered the asteroid (79) Eurynomials . In the years 1867 and 1868 he succeeded in discovering eight more asteroids, among them the number 100, to which Paris dedicated a commemorative coin. In addition to Watson, it shows John R. Hind and his two successors as multiple discoverers: Goldschmidt (14 discoveries 1852–61) and Karl Theodor Robert Luther (24 from 1852–90).

In 1869/70 Watson took part in expeditions to observe solar eclipses on Mount Pleasent, Iowa , and in Carlentini, Sicily . In 1874 he observed the passage of Venus in front of the sun from Beijing . In 1878 he was a participant in an expedition to observe a total solar eclipse from Wyoming , where he turned his attention to the discovery of a planet within Mercury's orbit . Watson was convinced that both an "intra Merkur", the planet Vulcan , and a Trans Neptune existed beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune. During the eclipse of 1878, he discovered two reddish objects that he viewed as inner planets. However, this observation could not be confirmed.

In 1879 he followed a call to the University of Wisconsin , where he took over the chair of astronomy. In the following years he devoted himself intensively to the search for the hypothetical planet volcano , which according to today's knowledge does not exist.

Watson discovered a total of 24 asteroids and published several works on astronomy. He has received numerous honors for his achievements. In 1868 he was accepted into the National Academy of Sciences . In 1869 he received the Lalande Prize of the French Academy, like some asteroid explorers before him. In the following year he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig . In 1879 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In honor of his astronomical work, the asteroid (729) Watsonia is named after him.

Web links

• Publications by JC Watson in the Astrophysics Data System
• GC Comstock: Biographical Memoir of James Craig Watson. Sidereal Messenger, vol. 7 (1888), pp. 273–286 (obituary, English)