James Craig Watson

James Craig Watson (January 28th 1838 - November 22nd 1880) was a Astronome américano - Canadian born in the village of Fingal in the Ontario. Its family moved with Ann Arbor in the Michigan in 1850.

At 15 years, it was registered with the Université of Michigan, where it studied the traditional languages. Later, it accepted courses of Astronomie by the professor Franz Brünnow.

He was the second director of the Observatoire of Strait (of 1863 with 1879), succeeding Franz Brünnow. He wrote the theoretical work Astronomie in 1868.

He discovered 22 Astéroïde S, by beginning with (79) Eurynomé in 1863. However, one of its discoveries of asteroid, (139) Juewa take place with Beijing where Watson was to observe the Transit of Venus of 1874. The name Juewa was chosen by the Chinese authorities (瑞華, or in modern Pinyin, ruìhuá ).

He strongly believed in the existence of the planet Vulcan, a hypothetical planet nearer to the Sun than Mercure, which - it now is known - does not exist (however the existence of small planetoids Vulcanoïde S remains a possibility). He thought of having observed 2 planets of this kind during the solar eclipse of July 1878 in the Wyoming.

He died of Péritonite old only 42 years. He had piled up a considerable fortune through marketing activities without relationship with astronomy. He created by legacy the Médaille James Craig Watson off, allotted every 3 years by the National Academy Sciences for contributions to astronomy.

The Astéroïde (729) Watsonia is named in its honor.

References

In Search off Planet Vulcan, The Ghost in Newton' S Clockwork Machine , Richard Baum and William Sheehan, 1997, ISBN 0-306-45567-6.

External bonds

Biography in the '' Dictionary off Canadian Biography Online ''
http://www.detroitobservatory.umich.edu/JAHH2003/DetroitObservatoryArticle.pdf

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