Benjamin Boss (January 9, 1880 – October 17, 1970) was an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

. He served as the director of both the

Dudley Observatory Dudley Observatory is an astronomical observatory originally located in Albany, New York, and now in Loudonville, New York. It is no longer operating as a scientific observatory, but remains the oldest non-academic institution of astronomical res ...

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and the Department of Meridian Astrometry of the

Carnegie Institution of Washington The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

Biography

Boss was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

to astronomer

Lewis Boss Lewis Boss (26 October 1846 – 5 October 1912) was an American astronomer. He served as the director of the Dudley Observatory in Schenectady, New York. Early life Boss was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Samuel P. and Lucinda (née Jos ...

and Helen M. (Hutchinson) Boss. After attending

The Albany Academy The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool (age 3) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselae ...

, he graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1901 and worked at

until 1905. Following a year at the U. S. Naval Observatory in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, he became director of the U.S. Naval Observatory at

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

and helped organized the expedition to

Flint Island Flint Island is an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the Southern Line Islands under the jurisdiction of Kiribati. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Is ...

to observe the 1908

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

. He served as director from 1906-1908. He joined the Department of Meridian Astrometry of the

in 1908, working as a secretary until 1912 when he became acting director. In 1915, he became director of the department. He also served as director of Dudley Observatory from 1912-1956. His primary work was in

positional astronomy Spherical astronomy, or positional astronomy, is a branch of observational astronomy used to locate astronomical objects on the celestial sphere, as seen at a particular date, time, and location on Earth. It relies on the mathematical methods of ...

, particularly in the positions and motions of the stars. His father served as editor of the ''

Astronomical Journal ''The Astronomical Journal'' (often abbreviated ''AJ'' in scientific papers and references) is a peer-reviewed monthly scientific journal owned by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and currently published by IOP Publishing. It is one of the p ...

'' from 1909 until his death 1912, whereupon Benjamin undertook the duty until 1941. In 1936 his ''General Catalogue of 33,342 Stars'' was published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC. This publication replaced the ''Preliminary General Catalogue of 6,188 stars'' of Lewis Boss, and it became known as the ''

Boss General Catalogue ''Boss General Catalogue'' (''GC'', sometimes General Catalogue) is an astronomical catalogue containing 33,342 stars. It was compiled by Benjamin Boss and published in the United States in 1936. Its original name was ''General Catalogue of 33, ...

''. (Star designations that began with GC are from this catalogue.) Boss died on October 17, 1970 in Albany, New York.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boss, Benjamin 1880 births 1970 deaths Harvard University alumni American astronomers People from Albany, New York Scientists from New York (state) The Albany Academy alumni The Astronomical Journal editors