J.R. Hind
| John Russell Hind | |
|---|---|
John Russell Hind c. 1860s
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| Born |
12 May 1823 Nottingham |
| Died | 23 December 1895 (aged 72) Twickenham, London |
| Known for | Discovery of asteroids and variable stars |
| Notable awards |
Lalande Prize (1851-1852, 1854) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1853) Royal Medal (1855) |
John Russell Hind FRS FRSE LLD (12 May 1823 – 23 December 1895) was an English astronomer.
John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham, the son of lace manufacturer John Hind, and was educated at Nottingham High School. At age 17 he went to London to serve an apprenticeship as a civil engineer, but through the help of Charles Wheatstone he left engineering to accept a position at the Royal Greenwich Observatory under George Biddell Airy. Hind remained there from 1840 to 1844, at which time he succeeded W. R. Dawes as director of the private observatory of George Bishop. In 1853 Hind became Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, a position he held until 1891.
Hind is notable for being one of the early discoverers of asteroids. He also discovered and observed the variable stars R Leporis (also known as Hind's Crimson Star), U Geminorum, and T Tauri (also called Hind's Variable Nebula), and discovered the variability of μ Cephei. Hind discovered Nova Ophiuchi 1848 (V841 Ophiuchi), the first nova of modern times (since the supernova SN 1604).
Hind's naming of the asteroid 12 Victoria caused some controversy. At the time, asteroids were not supposed to be named after living persons. Hind somewhat disingenuously claimed that the name was not a reference to Queen Victoria, but the mythological figure Victoria.
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