Charles Hugh Smiley (September 6, 1903 – July 26, 1977) was an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and academic, and the author of a column on astronomy, "Planets and Stars" (''

Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, the largest newspaper in Rhode Island, US. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspaper had won four ...

'', 1938–1957). The main belt

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

1613 Smiley Events January–March * January 11 – Workers in a sandpit in the Dauphiné region of France discover the skeleton of what is alleged to be a 30-foot tall man (the remains, it is supposed, of the giant Teutobochus, a legendar ...

is named after him. He was considered "one of the world’s leading authorities on

eclipses An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

."�
D.H. Kelley, “Charles Hugh Smiley, 1903-1977,” ''Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada'', Vol. 72, p.46.
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Biography

Born in

Camden, Missouri Camden is a city in southern Ray County, Missouri, and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area within the United States. The population was 175 at the 2020 census. History Camden was platted in 1838. The community most likely was named after ...

, he attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, where he earned a mathematics degree. He received an MA in mathematics from Berkeley (1925) and a PhD from the same university (1927). He taught mathematics at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

(1927-9) and worked at the

Royal Greenwich Observatory The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in G ...

as a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

(1929–30). He worked as a professor of mathematics at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

from 1930 onwards. He was director of

Ladd Observatory Ladd Observatory is an astronomical observatory at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Dedicated in 1891, it was primarily designed for student instruction and research. The facility operated a regional timekeeping service. It was respo ...

and served as chairman of the Department of Astronomy from 1938 until his retirement. Smiley led expeditions to South America, Canada, Asia, and the US to study solar eclipses and observed the

solar eclipse of July 20, 1963 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, ascending node of orbit between Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21, 1963, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0224. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and ...

from a U.S. Air Force F-104D Starfighter

supersonic aircraft A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft capable of supersonic flight, that is, flying faster than the speed of sound (Mach number, Mach 1). Supersonic speed, Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century. Supersonic ...

that was "racing the moon's shadow" at extending the duration of totality. He also conducted several expeditions between 1947 and 1952 to study "atmospheric refraction at low angular altitudes." He also studied the

Mayan calendar The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had ...

, and "was able to date the Mayan Codices of Dresden, Paris, and Madrid from astronomical dates which they contained." When

1570 Brunonia 1570 Brunonia, provisional designation , is a stony asteroid of the Koronis family from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 9 October 1948, by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend at the Royal Obs ...

was discovered on October 9, 1948, by

Sylvain Julien Victor Arend Sylvain Julien Victor Arend (6 August 1902 – 18 February 1992) was a Belgian astronomer born in Robelmont, Luxembourg province, Belgium. His main interest was astrometry. Together with Georges Roland, he discovered the bright comet C/1956 ...

at the

Royal Observatory of Belgium The Royal Observatory of Belgium (; ; ) has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels since 1890. It is part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The Royal Observatory was first established in S ...

Uccle Uccle (French language, French, ) or Ukkel (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the southern part of the region, it ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, Arend wrote to Smiley:

— This planet is named in honor of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. ... Its astronomical history dates back to the transit of Venus in 1769, observed by Prof.
Benjamin West Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as ''The Death of Nelson (West painting), The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the ''Treaty of Paris ( ...
. Two local streets are named Planet and Transit. The naming of the planet is also a tribute to the international reputation of Dr. Smiley.

References

External links

* (see WorldCat, below) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smiley, Charles Hugh 20th-century American astronomers 1903 births 1977 deaths University of California, Berkeley alumni Brown University faculty