Joel Hastings Metcalf
Joel Hastings Metcalf (born January 4, 1866 in Meadville , Pennsylvania , † February 23, 1925 in Portland , Maine ) was an American astronomer .
The son of Lewis Herbert and Anna (née Hicks) Metcalf developed an interest in astronomy at the age of 14 , inspired by a borrowed book and two close conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Mars . He attended Meadville Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School and received his doctorate from Allegheny College in 1892 . He then served as a Unitarian clergyman, first in Burlington , Vermont , and later in Taunton , Massachusetts , Winchester , Massachusetts and Portland, Maine, where he died in 1925.
As an amateur astronomer , he maintained regular contact with professors at universities and observatories. He discovered 41 asteroids , 5 comets and various variable stars . The asteroid (792) Metcalfia , which he discovered himself, was named after him. In 1911 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
Joel H. Metcalf was married to Elizabeth S. Lockman and had two children: Herbert E. Metcalf and Rachel Metcalf Stoneham.
Web links
- SI Bailey: Joel Hastings Metcalf . Popular Astronomy, Vol. 33 (1925), p. 493 (obituary, English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Metcalf, Joel Hastings |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronomer and discoverer of many asteroids |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 4, 1866 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Meadville , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 23, 1925 |
| Place of death | Portland , Maine |