- Henry Norris Russell
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Henry Norris Russell Born October 25, 1877
Oyster Bay, New York, USADied February 18, 1957 (aged 79)
Princeton, New Jersey, USANationality American Fields astronomy Institutions Princeton University Alma mater Princeton University Doctoral advisor Charles Augustus Young Known for Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, Russell–Saunders term symbol, Vogt-Russell theorem Influences George Darwin, Arthur Robert Hinks Notable awards Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1921)
Henry Draper Medal (1922)
Bruce Medal (1925)Henry Norris Russell (October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957) was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (1910). In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he developed Russell–Saunders coupling which is also known as LS coupling.[1][2]
Contents
Biography
Russell was born in 1877 in Oyster Bay, New York. He studied astronomy at Princeton University, obtaining his B.A. in 1897 and his doctorate in 1899, studying under Charles Augustus Young. From 1903 to 1905, he worked at the Cambridge Observatory with Arthur Robert Hinks as a research assistant of the Carnegie Institution and came under the strong influence of George Darwin.
He returned to Princeton to become an instructor in astronomy (1905–1908), assistant professor (1908–1911), professor (1911–1927) and research professor (1927–1947). He was also the director of the Princeton University Observatory from 1912 to 1947. He died in Princeton, New Jersey in 1957 at the age of 79.[3]
In November 1908 Russell married Lucy May Cole. They had four children. Their youngest daughter, Margaret, married the astronomer Frank K. Edmondson in the 1930s.
Published work
He co-wrote an influential two-volume textbook in 1927 with Raymond Smith Dugan and John Quincy Stewart: Astronomy: A Revision of Young’s Manual of Astronomy (Ginn & Co., Boston, 1926–27, 1938, 1945). This became the standard astronomy textbook for about two decades. There were two volumes: the first was The Solar System and the second was Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy. The textbook popularized the idea that a star's properties (radius, surface temperature, luminosity, etc.) were largely determined by the star's mass and chemical composition, which became known as the Vogt-Russell theorem (including Heinrich Vogt who independently discovered the result). Since a star's chemical composition gradually changes with age (usually in a non-homogeneous fashion), stellar evolution results.
Awards and honors
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1921)[4]
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1921)[5]
- Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1922)[6]
- Bruce Medal (1925)[7]
- Rumford Prize (1925)[8]
- Franklin Medal (1934)
- Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1937)
- Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1946)[9]
References
- ^ David H. DeVorkin, Henry Norris Russell - google books
- ^ George Kean Sweetnam, The Command of Light - google books
- ^ Mehra, Jagdish; Helmut Rechenberg (2001). The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, Vol. 1, Part 2. Springer. p. 686. http://books.google.com/books?id=8tUVMSsC9wAC.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter R". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterR.pdf. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
- ^ "Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society". Royal Astronomical Society. http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ "Henry Draper Medal". National Academy of Sciences. http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_draper. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ "Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ "Past Recipients of the Rumford Prize". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/about/rumford.aspx. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ "Grants, Prizes and Awards". American Astronomical Society. http://aas.org/grants/awards.php#russell. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
External links
Biographies
- DeVorkin, David H (2000). Henry Norris Russell: Dean of American Astronomers. Princeton University Press. pp. 528 pages. ISBN 0-691-04918-1.
Obituaries
Categories:- 1877 births
- 1957 deaths
- Astronomers
- American astronomers
- Princeton University alumni
- Princeton University faculty
- People from Nassau County, New York
- People from Princeton, New Jersey
- Burials at Princeton Cemetery
- Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Foreign Members of the Royal Society
- National Academy of Sciences laureates
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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