John Russell Hind FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

LLD Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation#Plural forms, abbrev ...

(12 May 1823 – 23 December 1895) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

astronomer.

Life and work

John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, the son of lace manufacturer John Hind and Elizabeth Russell, and was educated at

Nottingham High School , motto_translation = Praise to the end , address = Waverley Mount , city = Nottingham , county = Nottinghamshire , postcode = NG7 4ED , country = England , coordinates = , type = Independent day school , established = , closed = , religious ...

. At age 17 he went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to serve an apprenticeship as a civil engineer, but through the help of Charles Wheatstone he left engineering to accept a position at the

Royal Observatory, Greenwich The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in ...

under George Biddell Airy. Hind remained there from 1840 to 1844, at which time he succeeded

W. R. Dawes William Rutter Dawes (19 March 1799 – 15 February 1868) was an English astronomer. Biography Dawes was born at Christ's Hospital then in the City of London (it moved to Horsham, West Sussex in 1902), the son of William Dawes, also an astro ...

as director of the private

George Bishop's Observatory George Bishop's Observatory (code: 969) was an astronomical observatory erected in 1836 by the astronomer George Bishop near his residence at the South Villa of Regent's Park, London. It was equipped with a Dollond refractor. Description T ...

. In 1853 Hind became Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, a position he held until 1891. Hind is notable for being one of the early discoverers of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

s. He also discovered and observed the

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

R Leporis R Leporis (R Lep), sometimes called Hind's Crimson Star, is a well-known variable star in the constellation Lepus, near its border with Eridanus. It is designated "R" in the chart to the right. It is a carbon star which app ...

(also known as Hind's Crimson Star),

U Geminorum U Geminorum (''U Gem''), in the constellation Gemini, is an archetypal example of a dwarf nova. The binary star system consists of a white dwarf closely orbiting a red dwarf. Every few months it undergoes an outburst that greatly increas ...

, and T Tauri (also called Hind's Variable Nebula), and discovered the variability of μ Cephei. Hind discovered

Nova Ophiuchi 1848 A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

(

V841 Ophiuchi V841 Ophiuchi (Nova Ophiuchi 1848) was a bright nova discovered by John Russell Hind on 27 April 1848. It was the first object of its type discovered since 1670. At the time of its discovery, it had an apparent magnitude of 5.6, but m ...

), the first object of its type discovered since 1670. Hind's naming of the asteroid

12 Victoria 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

caused some controversy. At the time, asteroids were not supposed to be named after living persons. Hind somewhat disingenuously claimed that the name was not a reference to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, but the mythological figure Victoria. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in June 1863 and President of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

in 1880. He died in 1895 in

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, London. Hind had married Fanny Fuller in 1846; he and his wife had six children.

Honours and legacy

* Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1853) * Fellow of the Royal Society (1863) * The crater Hind on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

* Asteroid

1897 Hind 1897 Hind, provisional designation , is a Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 October 1971, by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek at Bergedorf Observatory in H ...

. Details: * Comet
C/1847 C1 (Hind)
an
C/1846 O1 (de Vico-Hind)
See also Comet Hind * Hind's Crimson Star – The red-giant variable star

* Hind's Variable Nebula – A reflection nebula in Taurus, also known as

NGC 1555 NGC 1555, sometimes known as Hind's Variable Nebula, is a variable nebula, illuminated by the star T Tauri, located in the constellation Taurus. It is also in the second Sharpless catalog as 238. It is a Herbig–Haro object. The nebula was d ...

, associated with the young, irregular variable star T Tauri.

Notes

Some sources give his name as John Russel Hind with only one "L". However, civil records and 19th century British astronomical magazines consistently spell his name with two "L"s. In the table of discovered asteroids, mpc links to the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

database for more information about the asteroid, along with the background on its name.

References

External links

* – also known as T Tauri {{DEFAULTSORT:Hind, John Russell 1823 births 1895 deaths People from Nottingham 19th-century British astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Royal Medal winners Fellows of the Royal Society Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society Recipients of the Lalande Prize

Life and work

Honours and legacy

Notes

References

Further reading

External links