Charles Bruce Stephenson (February 9, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American astronomer. He was born on a ranch in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, the only son of Chauncey Elvira Stephenson and Ona Richards. During his youth he made a telescope and was a winner of the

Bausch & Lomb Bausch + Lomb is an eye health products company based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of contact lenses, lens care products, pharmaceuticals, intraocular lenses, and other eye surgery products. The compan ...

Science Award while in High School. He attended

Little Rock Junior College The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) is a public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the institution became a private four-year ...

, then transferred to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. After being awarded a B.S. in mathematics in 1949, he went on to study astronomy in graduate school, attaining a M.S. in 1951. From 1951 until 1953, he served as an astronomy research assistant at

Dearborn Observatory The Dearborn Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The observatory was originally constructed in 1888, through an agreement between the university and the Chicago Astronomical Socie ...

. While a student at Northwestern, he met his future wife, Elizabeth Strong—the couple were married in 1952. In 1953 he joined the military in the U.S. Army Map Service Lunar Occultation Program, serving until 1955 whereupon he returned to the study of astronomy at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. As a doctoral student, he was awarded the '' Dorothy Klumpke Roberts Prize in Astronomy'' by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific during 1956, and was a '' Lick Observatory Fellow'' for 1957−58. In 1958 he received his Ph.D. with a dissertation titled, "A Study of Visual Binaries Having Primaries Above the Main Sequence". Moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he became an instructor at the Case Western Reserve University in 1958, joining the staff of the Warner & Swasey Observatory. During 1959 he was elevated to Assistant Professor, becoming Associate Professor in 1964 then Professor in 1968. During his career, he published over 120 papers. His ''A General Catalog of Cool Galactic Carbon Stars'' was published in 1973 and ''A General Catalog of Galactic S Stars'' in 1976. In 1977, he collaborated with Romanian-born astronomer Nicholas Sanduleak to publish a catalogue of

Hydrogen alpha H-alpha (Hα) is a specific deep-red visible spectral line in the Balmer series with a wavelength of 656.28 nm in air and 656.46 nm in vacuum; it occurs when a hydrogen electron falls from its third to second lowest energy level. H-alph ...

emission-line stars. (Sanduleak was a former student of Stephenson at the Case Institute of Technology.) In 1988, Dr. Stephenson was appointed the ''Worcester R. and Cornelia B. Warner Professor of Astronomy'', then named professor emeritus upon his retirement in 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Charles Bruce 1929 births 2001 deaths People from Little Rock, Arkansas American astronomers University of Chicago alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Case Western Reserve University faculty United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel