William Henry Pickering | |
|---|---|
 Pickering in 1909 | |
| Born | February 15, 1858 |
| Died | January 16, 1938(1938-01-16) (aged 79) |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1897) |
| Relatives | Edward Charles Pickering (brother) |
| Awards | Lalande Prize (1905) Prix Jules Janssen (1909) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
William Henry Pickering (February 15, 1858 – January 16, 1938) was an Americanastronomer.[1] Pickering constructed and established severalobservatories or astronomical observation stations, notably includingPercival Lowell'sFlagstaff Observatory. He spent much of the later part of his life at his private observatory inJamaica.
William Pickering was born on February 15, 1858, inBoston, Massachusetts.[2] His parents were Charlotte (née Hammond) and Edward Pickering.[3] His older brother wasEdward Charles Pickering, director of theHarvard College Observatory from 1876 to 1920.[2][4]
He attended secondary schools in Boston andCambridge.[4] In 1878, he published his observations of the coronal polarization of the 1878solar eclipse in Colorado.[2]
He graduated from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a bachelor in science in 1879.[5][4]
Pickering was an instructor inphysics at MIT from 1880 to 1887.[1] As early as 1882, pioneered incelestial photography.[2] In 1883, he was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences at the age of 25.[6]
In 1887, he became an assistant professor of astronomy at theHarvard College Observatory, teaching there until 1893.[1][4] He either led or participated in Harvard's solar eclipse expeditions inGrenada in 1886, California in 1889,Chile in 1893, Georgia in 1900, andNew England in 1932.[2][4] In 1888, he took some of the first photographs ofMars.[4]
He selected the site for theMount Wilson Observatory ofLos Angeles County, California in 1889.[7] In 1891, he established the Boyden astronomical station for the Harvard College Observatory inArequipa, Peru.[5][3] In 1894, he set up theLowell Observatory and telescope forPercival Lowell inFlagstaff, Arizona.[5]
Pickering discoveredSaturn's ninthmoonPhoebe in 1899 from plates taken in 1898.[7] In 1900, he established an astronomical station for the Harvard College Observatory inMandeville, Jamaica.[7][5][3] He produced a photographic atlas,The Moon: A Summary of the Existing Knowledge of our Satellite, in 1903.[2] In 1905, he conducted studies ofvolcanic craters inHawaii, noting their similarity to those of the moon.[4] This was followed by similar studies in Canada, Alaska, and the Azores.[4]
Pickering discovered a tenth Saturnian moon in 1905 from plates taken in 1904, which he called "Themis". For this discovery, he was awarded theLalande Prize of theFrench Academy of Sciences in 1905.[8] "Themis" was later shown not to exist.
FollowingGeorge Darwin, he speculated in 1907 that the Moon was once a part of the Earth and that it broke away where now thePacific Ocean lies. He also proposed a version ofcontinental drift beforeAlfred Wegener whereAmerica,Asia,Africa, andEurope once formed a single continent, which broke up because of the separation of the Moon.[9] In 1908, he made a statement regarding the possibility of airplanes that had not yet been invented, saying that "a popular fantasy is to suppose that flying machines could be used to drop dynamite on the enemy in time of war".[citation needed]
In 1919, he predicted the existence and position of aPlanet X based on anomalies in the positions ofUranus andNeptune but a search ofMount Wilson Observatory photographs failed to find the predicted planet.Pluto was later discovered at Flagstaff byClyde Tombaugh in 1930, but in any case, it is now known that Pluto's mass is far too small to have appreciable gravitational effects on Uranus or Neptune, and the anomalies are accounted for when today's much more accurate values of planetary masses are used in calculating orbits. When the planet was named, he interpreted its symbol as amonogram referring to himself andLowell by the phrase "Pickering-Lowell".[10]
He ledsolar eclipse expeditions and studiedcraters on theMoon, and hypothesized that changes in the appearance of the craterEratosthenes were due to "lunar insects".[11] He claimed to have found vegetation on the Moon in 1921.[12]
In September 1923, he retired fromHarvard University as an assistant professor emeritus.[5] The Harvard observatory in Jamaica became his private facility where he continued his work.[3] From 1928 to 1932, he published a series of papers, mostly inPopular Astronomy.[4] Throughout his career, he published more than 450 papers and two books.[4]
Pickering was a member of theAmerican Astronomical Society, the American Academy of Sciences, theSociété astronomique de France, and the International Astronomical Union Committee on Physical Observations of the Planets and Satellites.[4] He became a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1882 and an associate of theRoyal Astronomical Society on June 10, 1910.[2][6] In 1893, he became an honorary member of theRoyal Astronomical Society of Canada.[13] He was also an honorary member of theBritish Astronomical Association.[4]
He won thePrix Lalande in 1905 and thePrix Jules Janssen in 1909.[3] He was named a chevalier theMilitary Order of Saint James of the Sword of Portugal and received two medals from theSocietie Astronomique de Mexico.[3][4]
Theasteroid784 Pickeringia, and the cratersPickering on Mars are jointly named after him and his brotherEdward Charles Pickering.[1] Crater W. H. Pickering on the moon was named in his honor.[4]
Pickering married Anne Atwood, the daughter of Isaac Butts of Boston.[4] They had two children, William T. Pickering and Esther Pickering.[4]
Throughout his life, Pickering was known as an avid hiker andmountaineer. He was also a charter member of theAppalachian Mountain Club, founded in 1876.[3] In 1878, he was one of the first to scaleHalf Dome inYosemite National Park.[7][4] He also climbedEl Misti in Peru.[3] In 1882 he publishedWalking Guide to the Mt. Washington Range, arguably the first modern hiking trail guide to be published in America. The book contained a topographical trail map, which is also likely to be the first published trail map of the White Mountains.[14] He was a member of the Harvard Travellers’ Club and the New York Authors’ Club.[4]
In his retirement, Pickering lived inMandeville, Jamaica.[2] He died on January 16, 1938, in Mandeville at the age of 79.[1][15]
He was born in Boston and in 1879 graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was an assistant and instructor in physics in 1880–1887. In the latter year, he was appointed assistant professor of astronomy at the Harvard Observatory. Pickering led eclipse expeditions to Colorado (1878), Grenada (1886), California (1889), Chile (1893), and Georgia (1900); discovered Phoebe, the ninth satellite of Saturn, in 1899, and later Themis, the tenth satellite; made lunar observations in California in 1904; and visited Hawaii (1905) and the Azores (1907). He received the Lalande Prize in 1905 and the Janssen Medal in 1909. His publications include: Guide to Mount Washington Range (1882); The Moon (1903); Lunar and Hawaiian Physical Features Compared (1906)
Professor William Henry Pickering died Monday at Mandeville Observatory, where he had lived for three decades. He was buried in Mandeville. His age was 79. ...
