The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the
American Astronomical Society
The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...
in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research. The idea for the lectureship came from then society President
Harlow Shapley
Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American scientist, head of the Harvard College Observatory (1921–1952), and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal.
Shapley used Cepheid variable stars to estim ...
in 1945, who led the fund raising drive to collect $10,000 from the membership. One of the major contributors was the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, as Russell had been an important representative at the dedication ceremony for the
Mexican National Observatory. The goal was reached in December 1946, using not a little amount of coercive language by Shapley. The first Russell lecturer was, naturally, fellow American astronomer
Henry Norris Russell
Henry Norris Russell ForMemRS HFRSE FRAS (October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957) was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (1910). In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he deve ...
, for whom the award is named. Russell gave a lecture titled "The Royal Road of Eclipses" concerning
eclipsing binary
A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...
stars.
Previous lecturers
This list of lecturers is from the American Astronomical Society's website.
See also
*
List of astronomy awards
This list of astronomy awards is an index to articles about notable awards for contributions to astronomy. The list is organized by region and country of the sponsoring organization, but awards are not necessarily limited to people from that count ...
Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
References
{{Reflist, refs=
[{{Citation
, first1 = David H.
, last1 = Devorkin
, title = Henry Norris Russell: dean of American astronomers
, publisher = Princeton University Press
, page = 276
, year = 2000
, isbn = 0691049181
, url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hAE_6QX28qUC&pg=PA276
, postscript= .
]
Astronomy prizes
American Astronomical Society
Lecture series