June U. Gunter (January 15, 1911 – November 14, 1994), better known as Jay U. Gunter or J. U. Gunter, was an American

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

and

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

Life and professional career

Gunter was born in Sanford,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. In 1931 he graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

and then continued here and at the

Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with his medical education. He received his degree in 1938. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he spent in the Medical Corps of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. From 1947 he worked as Pathologist and Director of Laboratories, Watts Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. He was also a visiting Professor of Pathology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Amateur astronomy

In 1976 Gunter retired and devoted the rest of his life to amateur astronomy. His main field of study and

observation Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...

was

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 founded and for more than 15 years published the popular magazine ''Tonight's Asteroids''. It was a bimonthly periodical, distributed free, containing finding charts and news from the world of asteroid studies. It was widely acknowledged for bringing attention of many amateur astronomers to asteroid observation. In 1980 the main belt asteroid

2136 Jugta 136 may refer to: *136 (number) *AD 136 *136 BC 136 may refer to: *136 (number) *AD 136 Year 136 ( CXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 136th Year of the Common Era (C ...

was named in his honour (the name being an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

of the first letters of his and his magazine's names). In 1983 he received the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and in 1989 the Caroline Herschel Award of the Western Amateur Astronomer Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunter, Jay U. 1911 births 1994 deaths Amateur astronomers 20th-century American astronomers American pathologists United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Sanford, North Carolina Use mdy dates from August 2011 20th-century American physicians