Harold Lee Alden (January 10, 1890 – February 3, 1964) 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 ...

Early years and education

Harold Lee Alden was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Wheaton College (Illinois) Wheaton College is a Private college, private Evangelical, Evangelical Christian Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a ...

in 1912 and his master's from the

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

in 1913. From 1912 to 1913 he was an assistant in the photographic photometry program at the Yerkes Observatory. He received his Ph.D. in 1917 from the University of Virginia.

Professional life

He worked for twenty years at the Yacle Observatory in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

before returning to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He is noted mainly for measuring stellar

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

, the

proper motion Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more dista ...

of stars and long period

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 ...

s. The crater

Alden Alden may refer to: Places United States *Alden, California, a former settlement * Alden, Colorado *Alden, Illinois *Alden, Iowa *Alden, Kansas * Alden, Michigan *Alden, Minnesota * Alden, Oklahoma *Alden, Pennsylvania *Alden, New York **Alden (v ...

on the

far side ''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealis ...

of 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 ...

is named in his honor. He returned to the University of Virginia in 1945 to become a Professor of Astronomy, chairman of the Astronomy Department and Director of the

Leander McCormick Observatory The Leander McCormick Observatory is one of the astronomical observatories operated by the Department of Astronomy of the University of Virginia, and is situated just outside Charlottesville, Virginia (US) in Albemarle County on the summit of Mo ...

. In 1951 he was the vice-president of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and chairman of its section D (astronomy). Then, from 1952 to 1955 he was the president of Commission 24, the Stellar Parallaxes section, of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

Later years

Alden retired from the University of Virginia on June 30, 1960. When he retired, he was made a Professor Emeritus in recognition for his 26 years at the university as a fellow, instructor, assistant, associate and full professor. He died in Charlottesville on February 3, 1964, and was survived by his wife, Mildred, by three children and by eleven grandchildren.

References

;Sources *
Harold Lee Alden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alden, Harold 1890 births 1964 deaths American astronomers University of Virginia faculty University of Virginia alumni Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni

Early years and education

Professional life

Later years

See also

References