John Russell Hind FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

LLD (12 May 1823 – 23 December 1895) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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 ...

Life and work

John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, the son of lace manufacturer John Hind and Elizabeth Russell, and was educated at

Nottingham High School Nottingham High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private fee-charging day school for boys and girls in Nottingham, England, with an infant and junior school (ages 4–11) and senior school (ages 11–18). There were 1177 stu ...

. At age 17 he went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to serve an apprenticeship as a civil engineer, but through the help of

Charles Wheatstone Sir Charles Wheatstone (; 6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875) was an English physicist and inventor best known for his contributions to the development of the Wheatstone bridge, originally invented by Samuel Hunter Christie, which is used to m ...

he left engineering to accept a position at the

Royal Observatory, Greenwich 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 Gre ...

under

George Biddell Airy Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, as well as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1826 to 1828 and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements inc ...

. Hind remained there from 1840 to 1844, at which time he succeeded W. R. Dawes as director of the private George Bishop's Observatory. In 1853 Hind became Superintendent of the

Nautical Almanac A nautical almanac is a publication describing the positions of a selection of celestial bodies for the purpose of enabling navigators to use celestial navigation to determine the position of their ship while at sea. The Almanac specifies for ea ...

, a position he held until 1891. Hind is notable for being one of the early discoverers of

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 ...

s. He also discovered and observed the

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...

R Leporis R Leporis (R Lep), sometimes called Hind's Crimson Star, is a well-known variable star in the constellation Lepus, near its border with Eridanus. It is a carbon star which appears distinctly red. It is named after famous Brit ...

(also known as Hind's Crimson Star),

U Geminorum U Geminorum (''U Gem''), in the constellation Gemini, is an archetypal example of a dwarf nova. The binary star system consists of a white dwarf closely orbiting a red dwarf. Every few months it undergoes an outburst that greatly increas ...

, and

T Tauri T Tauri is a Trinary star, trinary variable star in the constellation Taurus (constellation), Taurus, the prototype of the T Tauri stars. It was discovered in October 1852 by John Russell Hind. T Tauri appears from Earth amongst the Hya ...

(also called Hind's Variable Nebula), and discovered the variability of μ Cephei. Hind discovered

Nova Ophiuchi 1848 A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white d ...

(

V841 Ophiuchi V841 Ophiuchi (Nova Ophiuchi 1848) was a bright nova discovered by John Russell Hind on 27 April 1848. It was the first object of its type discovered since 1670. At the time of its discovery, it had an apparent magnitude of 5.6, but m ...

), the first object of its type discovered since 1670. Hind's naming of the asteroid

12 Victoria 12 Victoria is a large main-belt asteroid, orbiting the Sun with a orbital period, period of 3.56 years and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity of 0.221. It is a S-type asteroid, stony (S-type) asteroid, about 112–124 km across wit ...

caused some controversy. At the time, asteroids were not supposed to be named after living persons. Hind somewhat disingenuously claimed that the name was not a reference to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, but the mythological figure

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in June 1863 and President of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

in 1880. He died in 1895 in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

, London. Hind had married Fanny Fuller in 1846; he and his wife had six children.

Honours and legacy

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

(1853) * Fellow of the Royal Society (1863) * The crater

Hind A hind is a female deer, especially a red deer. Places * Hind (Sasanian province) (262-484) * Al-Hind, a Persian and Arabic name for the Indian subcontinent * Islamic State – Hind Province, claimed province of the IS in India * Hind (cra ...

on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

* Asteroid 1897 Hind. Details: * Comets

C/1847 C1 (Hind) Hind's Comet, formally designated as C/1847 C1, is a non-periodic comet that became visible to the naked eye in March 1847. It is the second comet discovered by English astronomer, John Russell Hind John Russell Hind FRS FRSE LLD (12 May 1 ...

and C/1846 O1 (de Vico-Hind). * Hind's Crimson Star – The red-giant variable star

* Hind's Variable Nebula – A reflection nebula in Taurus, also known as

NGC 1555 NGC 1555, sometimes known as Hind's Variable Nebula, Sh2-238 or HH 155, is a variable nebula 4 light years across, illuminated by the star T Tauri, located in the constellation Taurus. It is 400 light years away from Earth, and has a magnitude ( ...

, associated with the young, irregular variable star T Tauri.

Notes

Some sources give his name as John Russel Hind with only one "L". However, civil records and 19th-century British astronomical magazines consistently spell his name with two "L"s. In the table of discovered asteroids, MPC links to the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

database for more information about the asteroid, along with the background on its name.

References

External links

* – also known as

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hind, John Russell 1823 births 1895 deaths Scientists from Nottingham 19th-century English astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Royal Medal winners Fellows of the Royal Society Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society Recipients of the Lalande Prize Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh

Life and work

Honours and legacy

Notes

References

Further reading

External links