William Edmund Harper, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

William Edmund Harper

Canadian astronomer

Date of Birth: 20-Mar-1878

Place of Birth: Ontario, Canada

Date of Death: 14-Jun-1940

Profession: astronomer

Nationality: Canada

Zodiac Sign: Pisces


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About William Edmund Harper

  • William Edmund Harper, March 20, 1878 – June 14, 1940, (age 62) was a Canadian astronomer. William Harper was born in Dobbington, Ontario.
  • He attended high school in Owen Sound, then taught for three years following his graduation.
  • When he had sufficient funds, in 1902 he entered the University of Toronto. He graduated in 1906 and became a member of the staff at the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
  • He worked with the astrophysics staff, measuring the radial velocity of stars and determining the orbits of spectroscopic binaries.
  • (The latter are binary star systems that could not be resolved with a telescope, but their orbital motions could be studied due to the doppler effect on their spectrum.) He was awarded his master's degree in 1907 from the University of Toronto.
  • In 1909 he was married to Maude Eugenia Hall.
  • They had two daughters. The need for more powerful equipment was becoming apparent, and Dr.
  • Harper suggested Victoria as a suitable location.
  • In 1913, the government approved the project and Dr.
  • Harper was sent to make measurements of the observing conditions at various sites.
  • Observatory Hill was finally selected as the location.
  • In 1918 the observatory was completed, and a year later Dr.
  • Harper was transferred to the site.
  • He would become assistant director in 1924, then the observatory's second director in 1936. Most of his career was spent in the spectroscopic study of stars.
  • He published about fifty papers, and in 1924 a table of 1100 parallax measurements.
  • He was also a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, being awarded their gold medal, then becoming a Fellow in 1913.
  • He serving as president of that organization 1928-29.
  • In 1935 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto. By 1938 he was suffering from ill-health, which was further undermined by a bout of pneumonia while representing Canada at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Stockholm.
  • He died from a relapse of the disease.

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