John Stanley Plaskett Explained
John Stanley Plaskett [2] (November 17, 1865 - October 17, 1941) was a Canadian astronomer.
Career
He worked as a machinist, and was offered a job as a mechanician at the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto, constructing apparatus and assisting with demonstrations during lectures. He found this so interesting that at the age of 30 he enrolled as an undergraduate in mathematics and physics. He stayed at the university until 1903, doing research on color photography.
His formal astronomical career did not start until 1903, when he was appointed to the staff at Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Ontario. He measured radial velocities and studied spectroscopic binaries, and performed the first detailed analysis of galactic structure.[3] His mechanical background was very useful for constructing various instruments. He became first director of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, British Columbia in 1917 (not to be confused with the old Dominion Observatory in Ottawa).
Family and legacy
His son, Harry Hemley Plaskett, also pursued a very successful career in astronomy, winning the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1963, thereby making the Plasketts one of the very few families to boast more than one Medal winner.[4]
An authoritative biography of JS Plaskett was published in 2018,[5] coinciding with the centennial of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory.
Honours
Awards
Honors
Named after him
External links
Obituaries
Notes and References
- Encyclopedia: Rice . Hugh S. . William D. Halsey . Collier's Encyclopedia . Plaskett, John Stanley . 1976 . Macmillan Educational Corporation . 19 . New York . 128 .
- Jones . H. S. . Harold Spencer Jones. John Stanley Plaskett. 1865-1941 . 10.1098/rsbm.1942.0007 . . 4 . 11 . 67–69 . 1942 . free .
- "Died this day", The Globe and Mail, October 16, 2004; page F-10
- 1963 . Presidential Address on the Award of the Gold Medal to Professor Harry Hemley Plaskett . Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society . 4 . 176 . 1963QJRAS...4..176. .
- Book: Broughton, R. Peter. Northern Star:J.S. Plaskett. University of Toronto Press. 2018. 2019-05-01. 2019-05-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190501054520/https://utorontopress.com/us/northern-star-1. dead.
- Web site: Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society . . 24 February 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110525064844/http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268 . 25 May 2011 .
- Web site: Past Recipients of the Rumford Prize. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 24 February 2011. 27 September 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120927075008/http://www.amacad.org/about/rumford.aspx. dead.
- Web site: Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 24 February 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721092933/http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html. 21 July 2011. dead.
- Web site: Henry Draper Medal . . 24 February 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130126003930/http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html . 26 January 2013 .
- Web site: APS Member History . 2023-07-10 . search.amphilsoc.org.
- http://plaskett.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca NRC-HIA Plaskett Fellowship / Bourse Plaskett de l'IHA-CNRC
- Web site: Archived copy . geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca . 22 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110514140304/http://geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/v8/sima_unique_v8?english?JBECO?C . 14 May 2011 . dead.
- Web site: CASCA . 2009-09-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090514035051/http://www.casca.ca/Links/Awards/plaskett.php . 2009-05-14 .
