William Liller (April 1, 1927 – February 28, 2021) was an Americanastronomer, known for his research on "planetary nebulae, comets, asteroids, magnetic activity in cool stars, the optical identification of X-ray sources, and astro-archaeology."[2]
He matriculated in 1944 at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in astronomy, after an 11-month interruption for service in the U.S. Navy from July 1945 to June 1946. He received in 1953 his Ph.D. in astronomy from theUniversity of Michigan. His Ph.D. thesis, supervised byLawrence H. Aller, dealt with the central stars and expansion rates of planetary nebulae.[2] From 1953 to 1960 Liller was a junior faculty member at the University of Michigan. AtHarvard University, he became in 1960 a full professor and in 1962 was appointed Robert Wheeler Willson Professor of Applied Astronomy.[2] He discovered twominor planets, several novae, the globular star clusterLiller 1 in Scorpius, andcometC/1988 A1 (Liller).[1][3][4]
In 1981 Liller resigned from Harvard University and became the associate director of the Instituto Isaac Newton[2] with main office in the eastern outskirts ofSantiago Chile. He maintained a small but well-equipped observatory inViña del Mar about 120 kilometers west of Santiago.[8] In 1986NASA funded Liller's three-month stay onEaster Island, where he set up a small observatory to observeHalley's Comet. During this time he became fascinated with the island's many ancient temples and eventually began a program of archaeoastronomy.[9] He and his Chilean third wife[2] lived inReñaca, Chile in a villa on high cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He was a vice-president of theEaster Island Foundation and an expert on the ancient culture ofRapanui.[10]
Gottlieb, E. W.; Wright, E. L.; Liller, W. (1975). "Optical studies of UHURU sources. XI. A probable period for Scorpius X-1 = V818 Sco".The Astrophysical Journal.195: L33.doi:10.1086/181703.
Bond, H. E.; Liller, W.; Mannery, E. J. (1978). "UU Sagittae - Eclipsing nucleus of the planetary nebula Abell 63".The Astrophysical Journal.223: 252.Bibcode:1978ApJ...223..252B.doi:10.1086/156257.
Giacconi, R.; Bechtold, J.; Branduardi, G.; Forman, W.; Henry, J. P.; Jones, C.; Kellogg, E.; Van Der Laan, H.; Liller, W.; Marshall, H.; Murray, S. S.; Pye, J.; Schreier, E.; Sargent, W. L. W.; Seward, F.; Tananbaum, H. (1979). "A high-sensitivity X-ray survey using the Einstein Observatory and the discrete source contribution to the extragalactic X-ray background".The Astrophysical Journal.234: L1.Bibcode:1979ApJ...234L...1G.doi:10.1086/183099.hdl:1887/6390.
Kahler, S.; et al. (1982). "Coordinated X-ray, optical, and radio observations of flaring activity on YZ Canis Minoris".The Astrophysical Journal.252: 239.Bibcode:1982ApJ...252..239K.doi:10.1086/159551.
Rapahango, Ana Betty Haoa; Liller, William (1996).Speak Rapanui! : the language of Easter Island = ¡Hable rapanui! : la lengua de Isla de Pascua. Los Osos, California: Easter Island Foundation.ISBN9781880636039; 133 pages : illustrations, map ; 14 x 22 cm.; trilingual language-phrase booklet{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)[12]
^The minor planet 3222 Liller was discovered on July 10, 1983 byEdward L. G. Bowell. See:Schmadel, Lutz D. (5 August 2003)."(3222) Liller".Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Vol. 1 (5th ed.). Springer. p. 268.ISBN9783540002383.
