Harry Edwin Wood
Harry Edwin Wood | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 February 1881 |
| Died | 27 February 1946 (aged 65) Mortimer, near Cradock, South Africa |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Known for | First 24-hour weather forecasts in South Africa, 12 numbered asteroids |
| Spouse | Mary Ethel Greengrass |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions |
|
Harry Edwin Wood (3 February 1881 – 27 February 1946) was an English astronomer, director of the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, and discoverer of minor planets.[2][3]
Wood was born in Manchester, graduating from Manchester University in 1902 with first class honours in physics, going on to gain an MSc in 1905. In 1906 he was appointed the Chief Assistant at the Transvaal Meteorological Observatory, which soon acquired telescopes and which became known as the Union Observatory and later Republic Observatory. In July 1906, he established South Africa's first 24-hour weather forecasts through telegraph in the Transvaal.[1] In 1909, he married Mary Ethel Greengrass, also a physics graduate of Manchester University. Wood served as the observatory's director from 1928 to 1941, succeeding Robert Innes. He also served as the president of the Astronomical Society of South Africa from 1929 to 1930.[2]
Wood is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 12 numbered asteroids during 1911–1932.[4]
He died in Mortimer, near Cradock, South Africa, in 1946. The asteroid 1660 Wood, discovered by his colleague Jacobus Bruwer at Johannesburg, is named in his honour (M.P.C. 3297).[3]
| 715 Transvaalia | 22 April 1911 | list |
| 758 Mancunia | 18 May 1912 | list |
| 790 Pretoria | 16 January 1912 | list |
| 982 Franklina | 21 May 1922 | list |
| 1032 Pafuri | 30 May 1924 | list |
| 1096 Reunerta | 21 July 1928 | list |
| 1241 Dysona | 4 March 1932 | list |
| 1305 Pongola | 19 July 1928 | list |
| 1595 Tanga | 19 June 1930 | list [A] |
| 1663 van den Bos | 4 August 1926 | list |
| 2193 Jackson | 18 May 1926 | list |
| 3300 McGlasson | 10 July 1928 | list |
| Co-discovery made with: A C. Jackson | ||
|---|---|---|
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science". www.s2a3.org.za. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Obituary Notices :- Wood, Harry Edwin". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 107: 60. December 1946. Bibcode:1947MNRAS.107...60.. doi:10.1093/mnras/107.1.60.
- ^ a b Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(1660) Wood". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1660) Wood. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 132. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1661. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
- ^ a b "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
External links
[edit]- Hockey, Thomas (2014). "Wood, Harry Edwin". Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. pp. 2373–2374. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9158. ISBN 978-1-4419-9916-0.
- Biography of Harry Edwin Wood at the S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science
- Discoveries by Harry Edwin Wood
- 1881 births
- 1946 deaths
- 20th-century British astronomers
- Alumni of the University of Manchester
- Discoverers of asteroids
- English emigrants to South Africa
- Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa
- Scientists from Manchester
- Presidents of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science