Herbert Hall Turner | |
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| Born | (1861-08-13)13 August 1861 Leeds, England |
| Died | 20 August 1930(1930-08-20) (aged 69) Stockholm, Sweden |
| Awards | Bruce Medal (1927) |
| Scientific career | |
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Herbert Hall TurnerFRS (13 August 1861 – 20 August 1930) was a Britishastronomer andseismologist.
Herbert Hall Turner was educated at theLeeds Modern School,Clifton College,[1] Bristol andTrinity College, Cambridge.[2] In 1884 he accepted the post of Chief Assistant at theRoyal Greenwich Observatory and stayed there for nine years. In 1893[3] he becameSavilian Professor of Astronomy and Director of theRadcliffe Observatory atOxford University, a post he held for 37 years until his sudden death in 1930.[4]
He was one of the observers in the Eclipse Expeditions of 1886 and 1887. Inseismology, he is credited with the discovery ofdeep focus earthquakes. He is also credited with coining the wordparsec.
His 1897 Royal Society candidature citation read:[5]
Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society. Was Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich 1884-1894. Author of various papers among which may be mentioned:-
- "On the correction of the Equilibrium theory of tides for the continents" (with G H Darwin, Proc.RS. vol lx)
- "Report of observations of total solar eclipse of Aug 29 1886" (Phil Trans. vol 180A),
- "On Mr Edgeworth's method of reducing observations relating to several quantities" (Phil. Mag. Vol24).
- "On Mr Leath's Intersects" (Monthly Notices R.A.S. vol xlvi).
- "On observations for coincidence of collimators at Royal Observatory Greenwich" (M, N. Vols xlv and liii).
- "On the variations of level against of the Transit Circle at Royal Observatory Greenwich" (M.N. Vol.xlvii).
- "On the longitude of Paris" (M.N. vol li).
- "On stellar Photography" (M.N. Vols xlix and liv)
- "On the R-D discordnace" (M.N. vol Liii p. 374 and 424, vol Liv p. 486, Mem Part. 3. vol ii);
- "On new forms of levels" (M.N. Vol Lii).
- "Conference of the Cape (1880) and Greenwich (1880) Star Catalogues" (Mem. Rs.F.S, vol Li).
- "On the reduction of measures of photographic plates" (N.N. vol LiV)
He co-edited the first official history of theRoyal Astronomical Society along withJohn Louis Emil Dreyer,History of the Royal Astronomical Society 1820–1920 (1923, reprinted 1987).[6]
He died of a brain haemorrhage in 1930 at a conference in Stockholm. He had married Agnes Margaret Whyte in 1899; they had one daughter, Ruth.
A few months before Turner's death in 1930, theLowell Observatory announced the discovery of a new planet, and an eleven-year-old Oxford schoolgirl,Venetia Burney, proposed the namePluto for it to her grandfatherFalconer Madan, who was retired from theBodleian Library.[7] Madan passed the name to Turner, who cabled it to colleagues at theLowell Observatory in the United States.[8] The new planet was officially named "Pluto" on 24 March 1930.[9]
His portrait, byCatharine Dodgson, hangs atNew College, Oxford, at which he held a Professorial Fellowship attached to theSavilian Professor of Astronomy.
In 1913 and 1915 he was invited to deliver theRoyal Institution Christmas Lecture onA Voyage in Space andWireless Messages from the Stars.
Works by or aboutHerbert Hall Turner atWikisource| International | |
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Savilian Professors | |
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Chairs established bySir Henry Savile | |
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| Savilian Professors of Geometry |
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