Charles Donald Shane (September 6, 1895 – March 19, 1983) 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 ...

and director of the

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...

of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

from 1945 to 1958, during which time he carried out his monumental program of counting external galaxies and investigating their distribution. In 1920, Shane received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

from the

University of California at 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 univ ...

and was appointed as an instructor in mathematics there. Shane was second president of AURA, and instrumental for the establishment of the

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an astronomical observatory located on Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Cerro Pachón about to the southeast. It is approximately ...

in Chile, and played a major role in the planning and construction of the first telescopes and buildings on

Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomy, astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With ...

as well. Shane was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1955 and the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1961. The 3-meter C. Donald Shane telescope at the Lick Observatory was named after him in 1978. Also

1994 Shane 1994 Shane, provisional designation , is a dark Adeonian asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 25 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 October 1961, by astronomers of the Indiana Asteroid Program conducted ...

asteroid was named after him.

References

* Vasilevskis, S. and Osterbrock, D. E. (1989) "Charles Donald Shane" ''Biographical Memoirs, Volume 58'' pp. 489–512, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 20th-century American astronomers 1895 births 1983 deaths University of California, Berkeley alumni Lick Observatory {{US-astronomer-stub Members of the American Philosophical Society