Richard Hawley Tucker (October 29, 1859 – March 31, 1952) 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 ...

Biography

He was born in

Wiscasset, Maine Wiscasset is a New England town, town in and the county seat, seat of Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The municipality is located in the state of Maine's Mid Coast region. The population was 3,742 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

, to a ship-owning and seafaring family. After a brief stint at sea starting at age 14, he attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

, where he studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

but became interested in the study of astronomy. He graduated in 1879 and became an assistant at

Dudley Observatory Dudley Observatory is an astronomical observatory originally located in Albany, New York, and now in Loudonville, New York. It is no longer operating as a scientific observatory, but remains the oldest non-academic institution of astronomical res ...

. He remained there for four years, and briefly worked with the

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...

. In 1883 he joined Lehigh as an instructor of mathematics and astronomy. A year later he was offered a position with the Argentine National Observatory, where he would assist in a survey of the southern night sky. He remained there for nine years, then joined the staff of

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 ...

in 1893. He remained at Lick until 1908, operating the Meridian Circle program to make precise measurements of star positions. In 1908 he would travel to

San Luis, Argentina San Luis () is the capital city of San Luis Province in the Cuyo region of Argentina. It is also the seat of the Juan Martín de Pueyrredón Department. City information Points of interest in the city include the Park of the Nations, the neoc ...

as part of an expedition to measure the positions of stars in the southern part of the sky. These measurements were to be incorporated into a catalog for

. During his time there he made 20,800 observations of stars. After his work in Argentina, he returned to Lick Observatory. In 1914 he married Ruth Standen, a secretary at Lick. He remained at the observatory until he retired in 1926, when he became Astronomer Emeritus. He spent his retirement years in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. During his career he published fifty three scientific articles. He was survived by his wife, two daughters and a grandson.

Awards and honors

* Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Lehigh University, 1922. * The crater

Tucker Tucker may refer to: Places United States * Tucker, Arkansas * Tucker, Georgia * Tucker, Mississippi * Tucker, Missouri * Tucker, Utah, ghost town * Tucker County, West Virginia Outer space * Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in the s ...

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 ...

is named after him.

References

* Sanford, R. F., 1953
Richard Hawley Tucker, 1859-1952
''Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific'', Vol. 65, No. 382.

External links

Richard Hawley Tucker, 1859-1952
from Lehigh University
Photographs of Richard Hawley Tucker from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Richard Hawley 1859 births 1952 deaths People from Wiscasset, Maine American astronomers Lehigh University alumni