John Stanley Plaskett | |
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 Plaskett in 1917 | |
| Born | November 17, 1865 (1865-11-17) |
| Died | October 17, 1941 (1941-10-18) (aged 75) Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada[1] |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Awards | Bruce Medal(1932) Flavelle Medal(1932) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Dominion Astrophysical Observatory |
John Stanley PlaskettCBE FRS[2] (November 17, 1865 – October 17, 1941) was aCanadianastronomer.
He worked as a machinist, and was offered a job as a mechanician at the Department ofPhysics at theUniversity of Toronto, constructing apparatus and assisting with demonstrations during lectures. He found this so interesting that at the age of 30 he enrolled as an undergraduate in mathematics and physics. He stayed at the university until 1903, doing research on color photography.
His formal astronomical career did not start until 1903, when he was appointed to the staff atDominion Observatory inOttawa, Ontario. He measuredradial velocities and studiedspectroscopic binaries, and performed the first detailed analysis of galactic structure.[3] His mechanical background was very useful for constructing various instruments. He became first director of theDominion Astrophysical Observatory inVictoria, British Columbia in 1917 (not to be confused with the oldDominion Observatory inOttawa).
His son,Harry Hemley Plaskett, also pursued a very successful career in astronomy, winning theGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1963, thereby making the Plasketts one of the very few families to boast more than one Medal winner.[4]
An authoritative biography of JS Plaskett was published in 2018,[5] coinciding with the centennial of theDominion Astrophysical Observatory.
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