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, 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 ...

stars.

Previous lecturers

This list of lecturers is from the American Astronomical Society's website.

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

Previous lecturers

See also

References