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Herbert Hall Turner

Born: 13-Aug-1861
Birthplace: Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Died: 20-Aug-1930
Location of death: Stockholm, Sweden
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Astronomer, Geologist, Physicist

Nationality: England
Executive summary: Stellar positions

Astronomer Herbert Hall Turner devised the methodology (still widely used) for determining stellar positions based on astronomical photographs. He discovered the Nova Geminorum, and coined the term parsec (short for parallax second, a distance of 3.26 light-years used for measuring immense interstellar distances). After Clyde W. Tombaugh's discovery of what was then thought to be the ninth planet in the solar system, he telegraphed astronomical authorities with the suggestion of the daughter of a friend that the object be named "Pluto". He also contributed much early work to the blossoming field of seismology, subjecting earthquake records to harmonic analysis.

Father: John Turner (artist)
Wife: Agnes Margaret Whyte Turner (m. 1899, one daughter)

    High School: Clifton College (1879)
    University: Trinity College, Cambridge University (1883)
    Scholar: Royal Observatory at Greenwich (1884-93)
    Administrator: Director, University Observatory, Oxford University (1893-1930)
    Professor: Astronomy, Oxford University (1893-1930)

    Bruce Medal 1927
    French Academy of Sciences Foreign Member
    International Astronomical Union
    International Geophysical Union
    International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
    Royal Astronomical Society President (1903-05)
    Royal Astronomical Society Foreign Secretary (1919-30)
    Royal Society
    Lunar Crater Turner (1.4� S, 13.2� W, 12 km diameter)
    Asteroid Namesake 1186 Turnera

Author of books:
Astronomical Discovery (1904)
Modern Astronomy (1901)
The Great Star Map (1912)
A Voyage in Space (1913)


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