Solon Irving Bailey

Solon Irving Bailey (December 29, 1854 in Lisbon, New Hampshire – June 5, 1931 in Norwell, Massachusetts) was an American astronomer and discoverer of the main-belt asteroid 504 Cora, on June 30, 1902.[1][2][3]

Solon Irving Bailey
Solon Irving Bailey
Born(1854-12-29)December 29, 1854
Lisbon, New Hampshire
DiedJune 5, 1931(1931-06-05) (aged 76)
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBoston University
Known forEstablishing the Boyden Station
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy, photography
InstitutionsHarvard University

Bailey joined the staff of Harvard College Observatory in 1887. He received an M.A. from there in 1888 in addition to his previous M.A. from Boston University.[1] After the observatory received the "Boyden Fund" bequest from the will of Uriah A. Boyden, Bailey played a major role in finding a site for Boyden Station in Arequipa, Peru, and was in charge of it from 1892 to 1919. He was also one of the first to carry out meteorological studies in Peru, traveling extensively in desolate areas at very high altitude. Boyden Station was moved to South Africa in 1927 due to better weather conditions and became known as the Boyden Observatory.[4]

He made extensive studies of variable stars in globular clusters in the southern skies. He also performed a light-curve analysis measured the rotation period of the near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros during its 1903 opposition with great accuracy.[4] Bailey was acting director of Harvard College Observatory from 1919 to 1921 after the death of Edward Charles Pickering and prior to the appointment of Harlow Shapley. He worked as a senior colleague with Henrietta Leavitt.[5] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1892.[6] Irving died at his summer home in Hanover, from an illness caused by heart disease, in 1931.[7][8][9][10]

References
  1. Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers – Bailey, Solon Irving. Springer Publishing. pp. 138–140. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  2. "The International Who's Who in the World – BAILEY, Solon Irving". Harvard University: 61. 1912.
  3. "504 Cora (1902 LK)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  4. Annie J. Cannon. "Biographical Memoir of Solon Irving Bailey (1854–1931)" (PDF). National Academy of Sciences (PDF). Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  5. Johnson, George (2005). Miss Leavitt's Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-393-05128-5.
  6. "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF) (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  7. "Dr. Solon I. Bailey, Astronomer, Dead". The New York Times. 6 June 1931. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  8. Delury, R. E.; Harper, W. E. (August 1931). "News and Comments (News of Astronomers, Notes from the D. A. O. )". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 25: 266. Bibcode:1931JRASC..25..266D.
  9. "Obituary Notices : Associates :- Bailey, Solon I". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 92 (4): 263. February 1932. Bibcode:1932MNRAS..92..263.. doi:10.1093/mnras/92.4.263.
  10. Cannon, Annie J. (October 1931). "Solon Irving Bailey, 1854-1931". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 43 (255): 317. Bibcode:1931PASP...43..317C. doi:10.1086/124151.
  • Fernie, J. D. (2000). "In Search of Better Skies: Harvard in Peru I". American Scientist. 88 (5): 396. doi:10.1511/2000.5.396.
  • Fernie, J. D. (2001). "In Search of Better Skies:Harvard in Peru, II". American Scientist. 89 (2): 123. doi:10.1511/2001.2.123.
  • Fernie, J. D. (2001). "Harvard in Peru III". American Scientist. 89 (5): 402. doi:10.1511/2001.5.402.

Further reading
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