William Robert Brooks
William Robert Brooks (born June 11, 1844 in Maidstone , England , † May 3, 1921 in Geneva , New York ) was an English-American astronomer .
Life
Brooks moved to Darien , New York with his parents in 1857 . He received training as a technical draftsman and later made numerous improvements to astronomical, photographic and other scientific devices.
Brooks was very interested in astronomy . At the age of fourteen he constructed his first telescope . In 1870 he moved to Phelps , New York, and in 1874 founded the "Redhouse Observatory" there. Brooks specialized in comet discovery . Between 1885 and 1886, he discovered five comets in nine months. In 1888 he went to Geneva , New York, and worked there at the "Smith Observatory" of Hobart College , where he worked as a professor and was awarded an honorary doctorate.
Brooks discovered a total of thirteen comets, including the periodic 12P / Pons-Brooks and 16P / Brooks 2 , as well as the conspicuous comet C / 1911 O1 (Brooks). He received several awards for his achievements and was accepted into the British Royal Astronomical Society . In addition to astronomical works, he published poems such as Milton and The Pilgrim of Lavergne , which were widely distributed at the time.
In 1991 the asteroid (2773) Brooks was named after him.
Web links
- Publications by WR Brooks in the Astrophysics Data System
- NN: William R. Brooks. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 82 (1922), p. 246. (Obituary, English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brooks, William Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English-American astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 11, 1844 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Maidstone , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 1921 |
| Place of death | Geneva , New York |