Frank Schlesinger | |
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| Born | (1871-05-11)May 11, 1871 |
| Died | July 10, 1943(1943-07-10) (aged 72) |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Known for | Yale Bright Star Catalogue |
| Awards | Valz Prize (1926) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1927) Bruce Medal (1929) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | astronomy |
| Institutions | Yerkes Observatory |
Frank Schlesinger (May 11, 1871 – July 10, 1943) was an Americanastronomer. His work concentrated on using photographic plates rather than direct visual studies for astronomical research.
Schlesinger was born in New York City and attended public schools there.[1] He graduated from theCollege of the City of New York in 1890. He then worked as a surveyor, becoming a special student in astronomy atColumbia in 1894. In 1896, he received a fellowship which enabled him to study full-time,[1] and he received aPhD in 1898. After his graduation, he spent the summer atYerkes Observatory as a volunteer assisting directorGeorge Ellery Hale.[2]
He was an observer in charge of theInternational Latitude Observatory,Ukiah, California, in 1898. From 1899 to 1903, he was an astronomer at Yerkes, where he pioneered the use of photographic methods to determine stellarparallaxes. He was director ofAllegheny Observatory from 1903 to 1920 andYale University Observatory from 1920 to 1941.[3]
At Yale he worked extensively withIda Barney.[4] He compiled and published theYale Bright Star Catalogue. The first publication of the results of this work started in 1925 (Transactions of the Yale University Observatory, v. 4) and the work concluded in the 1980s.[1] He made major contributions toastrometry. He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society (1912), theNational Academy of Sciences (1916) and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences and served as president of theAmerican Astronomical Society (1919–1922), and theInternational Astronomical Union (1932–1935).[1][2]
Asked how to say his name, he toldTheLiterary Digest "The name is so difficult for those who do not speak German that I am usually calledsles'in-jer, to rhyme withmessenger. It is, of course, of German origin and means 'a native of Schlesien' or Silesia. In that language the pronunciation isshlayzinger, to rhyme withsinger."[5]
He married Eva Hirsch in 1900 while in Ukiah. They had one child, Frank Wagner Schlesinger, who later directedplanetariums inPhiladelphia andChicago. His wife died in 1928, and in 1929 he married Mrs. Katherine Bell (Rawling) Wilcox.[2]
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