John Jackson (astronomer)
John Jackson (11 February 1887 – 9 December 1958) was a Scottish astronomer.
He was awarded The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his work on stellar parallaxes and star positions.[1]
Early life and education
Born on 11 February 1887 at Mossvale Street, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, John Jackson was educated at Paisley Grammar School, studying a range of subjects including the sciences and French and German, but not Latin or Greek, which were compulsory if he intended to sit the entrance examinations for university.
Having excelled at science, in particular chemistry, he decided to try for the entrance exam for
Graduating in 1907 with a first class honours Master of Arts degree in mathematics and natural philosophy, he was then awarded a fellowship of £100 a year for further study. The following year he undertook a Bachelor of Science degree, again at Glasgow University, with special distinction in mathematics, natural philosophy, astronomy and chemistry, winning medals in most of these subjects.
Astronomy was studied under the tutelage of Ludwig Becker. Jackson gained a thorough grounding in the fundamental elements of the subject to the extent required for a complete understanding of astronomy. He learned how to use a variety of astronomical instruments, how to correct observations and how to apply mathematical and arithmetical analysis to solve astronomical problems. Becker's enthusiastic teaching methods must have had a profound influence on Jackson as he then chose to pursue a career in astronomy.[2]
As there seemed to be no possibility of obtaining an appointment in astronomy at Glasgow, Jackson decided to go to
Greenwich Observatory
In 1914 a vacancy as Chief Assistant arose at the
In 1917 Jackson was granted a commission in the
Jackson returned from France in 1919 and resumed his duties at Greenwich. The first extensive task he undertook was to prepare for publication all of the observations he had made of double stars, working on this with
Cape Observatory
In 1933 a vacancy arose for the position of His Majesty's Astronomer at Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Jackson was appointed to the post.
Jackson's first task on arrival at the Cape was to work on the large collection of photographic plates taken by David Gill of the sky above Cape Town, in order to derive the proper motions of these stars. He published these in two volumes, which covered the motions and spectral types of over 41,000 stars.
Most of Jackson's time at the Cape was taken up with the determination of stellar parallax, a programme that had been started by his predecessor, Harold Spencer Jones. Jackson worked on this for a number of years, taking as many as 1000 photographic plates of the sky in a year from which to work from. Jackson obtained results for 1600 stars, published in three volumes of the Cape Annals. As a result of his work the knowledge of stellar parallaxes for the southern hemisphere became better known than that of the northern.
Throughout his career Jackson took part in four expeditions to observe a
Awards and legacy
Jackson retired from the Cape Observatory in 1950, being replaced by his assistant Dr R. H. Stoy.[5]
He returned to England, where he settled with his wife, Mary Beatrice Marshall, in Ewell, Surrey. In 1952 John Jackson was awarded The
Ill health plagued his later years and on 9 December 1958 John Jackson died after a brief illness.
References
- ^ ISSN 0035-8711. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- ISBN 9780748678921.
- JSTOR 769280.
- .
- ^ "1995MNSSA..54...19C Page 20".