Henry Norris Russell
Born(1877-10-25)October 25, 1877
Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 18, 1957(1957-02-18) (aged 79)
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma materPrinceton University
Known for
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsPrinceton University
Doctoral advisorCharles Augustus Young[2]
Doctoral students

Henry Norris Russell ForMemRS HFRSE FRAS (October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957) was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (1910). In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he developed Russell–Saunders coupling, which is also known as LS coupling.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Life

Russell was born on 25 October 1877, at Oyster Bay, New York, the son of Rev Alexander Gatherer Russell (1845-1911) and his wife, Eliza Hoxie Norris.[11]

After graduating from George School in 1895, he studied astronomy at Princeton University, obtaining his B.A. In 1897 and his doctorate in 1899, studying under Charles Augustus Young. From 1903 to 1905, he worked at the Cambridge Observatory with Arthur Robert Hinks as a research assistant of the Carnegie Institution and came under the strong influence of George Darwin.

He returned to Princeton to become an instructor in astronomy (1905–1908), assistant professor (1908–1911), professor (1911–1927) and research professor (1927–1947). He was also the director of the Princeton University Observatory from 1912 to 1947 where Charlotte Moore Sitterly helped him measure and calculate the properties of stars.

He died in Princeton, New Jersey on 18 February 1957 at the age of 79.[12] He is buried in Princeton Cemetery.

Russell at the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory, 1910

Family

In November 1908 Russell married Lucy May Cole (1881-1968). They had four children. Their youngest daughter, Margaret Russell (1914-1999), married the astronomer Frank K. Edmondson in the 1930s.

Published work

Russell co-wrote an influential two-volume textbook in 1927 with Raymond Smith Dugan and John Quincy Stewart: Astronomy: A Revision of Young’s Manual of Astronomy (Ginn & Co., Boston, 1926–27, 1938, 1945). This became the standard astronomy textbook for about two decades. There were two volumes: the first was The Solar System and the second was Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy. The textbook popularized the idea that a star's properties (radius, surface temperature, luminosity, etc.) were largely determined by the star's mass and chemical composition, which became known as the Vogt–Russell theorem (including Heinrich Vogt who independently discovered the result). Since a star's chemical composition gradually changes with age (usually in a non-homogeneous fashion), stellar evolution results.

Russell dissuaded Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin from concluding that the composition of the Sun is different from that of the Earth in her thesis, as it contradicted the accepted wisdom at the time. He realized she was correct four years later after deriving the same result by different means. In his paper Russell credited Payne with discovering that the Sun had a different chemical composition from Earth.[13]

  • Henry Norris Russell; Frederick Albert Saunders (1925). "New Regularities in the Spectra of the Alkaline Earths". Astrophysical Journal. 61: 38–69. Bibcode:1925ApJ....61...38R. doi:10.1086/142872.
  • Henry Norris Russell; Raymond Smith Dugan; John Quincy Stewart (1945) [1926–27, 1938]. Astronomy: A Revision of Young's Manual of Astronomy; Vol. I: The Solar System; Vol. II: Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy. Boston: Ginn & Co.
  • Henry Norris Russell (1929). "On the Composition of the Sun's Atmosphere". Astrophysical Journal. 70: 11–82. Bibcode:1929ApJ....70...11R. doi:10.1086/143197.
  • Henry Norris Russell (1937). "Model Stars (13th Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecture)". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 43 (2): 49–77. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1937-06492-5. MR 1563489.

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 Stratton, F. J. M. (1957). "Henry Norris Russell 1877-1957". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 3: 173–191. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1957.0012. JSTOR 769359. S2CID 73351903.
  2. 1 2 Henry Norris Russell at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. ↑ David H. DeVorkin, Henry Norris Russell - google books
  4. ↑ George Kean Sweetnam, The Command of Light - google books
  5. ↑ Henry Norris Russell — Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
  6. ↑ Obituary MNRAS 118 (1958) 311
  7. ↑ Obituary Obs 77 (1957) 67
  8. ↑ Obituary PASP 69 (1957) 223
  9. ↑ DeVorkin, David H (2000). Henry Norris Russell: Dean of American Astronomers. Princeton University Press. pp. 528 pages. ISBN 0-691-04918-1.
  10. ↑ "Bibliography in Bruce Medalist page for Russell maintained by Joseph Tenn at Sonoma State University". Archived from the original on 2012-11-08. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
  11. ↑ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  12. ↑ Mehra, Jagdish; Rechenberg, Helmut (2001). The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, Vol. 1, Part 2. Springer. p. 686. ISBN 9780387951751.
  13. ↑ Padman, Rachael (2004). "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900 - 1979)". Newnham College Biographies. Archived from the original on 2009-07-19. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  14. ↑ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  15. ↑ "Henry Russell". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  16. ↑ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter R" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2006-06-18. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  17. ↑ "Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society". Royal Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  18. ↑ "Henry Draper Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  19. ↑ "Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  20. ↑ "Past Recipients of the Rumford Prize". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  21. ↑ "Grants, Prizes and Awards". American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 22 December 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
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