James Craig Watson

James Craig Watson
Portrait of James Craig Watson
Born	(1838-01-28)January 28, 1838 Fingal, Ontario
Died	November 23, 1880(1880-11-23) (aged 42) Madison, Wisconsin
Cause of death	peritonitis
Nationality	Canadian
Education	University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Occupation	Professor, physicist, astronomer
Known for	Discovery of comets and asteroids
Awards	Lalande Prize

James Craig Watson (January 28, 1838 – November 22, 1880) was a Canadian-American astronomer, discoverer of comets and minor planets, director of the Ann Arbor Observatory, and awarded with the Lalande Prize in 1869.

He was born in the village of Fingal, Ontario Canada. His family relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1850. At age 15 he was matriculated at the University of Michigan, where he studied the classical languages. He graduated with a BA in 1857 and received a master's degree on examination after two years' study in astronomy under professor Franz Brünnow. He became Professor of Physics and instructor in Mathematics, and in 1863, succeeded him as professor of Astronomy and director of the Detroit Observatory. He wrote the textbook Theoretical Astronomy in 1868.

He discovered 22 asteroids, beginning with 79 Eurynome in 1863. One of his asteroid discoveries, 139 Juewa was made in Beijing when Watson was there to observe the 1874 transit of Venus. The name Juewa was chosen by Chinese officials (瑞華, or in modern pinyin, ruìhuá). Another was 121 Hermione in 1872, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and this asteroid was found to have a small asteroid moon in 2002.