Lewis A. Swift

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Lewis Swift
BornFebruary 29, 1820
Clarkson, New York
DiedJanuary 5, 1913 (aged 92)
Marathon, New York
OccupationAstronomer
RelativesEdward D. Swift (son)
Honours
Signature

Lewis A. Swift (February 29, 1820 – January 5, 1913[1]) was an American astronomer who discovered 13 comets and 1,248 previously uncatalogued nebulae. Only William Herschel discovered more nebulae visually.[2]

Discoveries

Swift discovered or co-discovered a number of

54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT was discovered by his son Edward D. Swift
rather than by him.

He discovered his last comet at the age of 79. He was one of the few people to see

Comet Halley
at two of its appearances, 76 years apart (see also: External Link).

In 1878 he believed he had observed two

Vulcan-type planets (planets within the orbit of Mercury
), but he was mistaken.

Apart from comets, he also discovered hundreds of

NGC 6, NGC 19 and NGC 27. He independently observed NGC 17
, leading to its separate listing in the New General Catalogue as NGC 34.

Life

According to Swift, he first became interested in astronomy as young boy after observing the Great Comet of 1843 while on his way to school in Clarkson, New York. His teacher initially dismissed his observation, but three days later the 'discovery' of the comet was announced.[4]

Swift conducted his early observations in

Rochester, NY, 'lain out in the snow' in an alley on Ambrose Street or on the roof of Duffy's Cider Mill. Later he gained a patron in the Rochester patent medicine businessman Hulbert Harrington Warner, who financed the building of an observatory for Swift. A fund of $13,000 was raised to purchase a 16-inch telescope for Swift.[5][4]

Warner went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893, which ended his financial support, and Swift then went to California to become director of Mount Lowe Observatory, taking the 16 inch telescope with him.[5]

He was married twice, first to Lucretia Hunt in 1850 and then to Carrie D. Topping in 1864. Edward D. Swift was his son by the latter wife.

Honors

Swift received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 1879.[4][6]

Swift received more medals than any other astronomer of his time including three made of gold from the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna,[7] four made of bronze from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the Laplace Medal from the Société astronomique de France (the French Astronomical Society). In 1897 he was the first person awarded the Jackson-Gwilt Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.[4]

The

5035 Swift is named in his honour, as is the lunar crater Swift
.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Obituary Notes of Astronomers". www.astro.uni-bonn.de. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
  2. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0
    .
  3. ^ NASA - Meteor Mystery, Solved? Archived 2009-04-06 at the Wayback Machine at science.nasa.gov
  4. ^ a b c d "Prof. Lewis Swift" (PDF). New York Times. Feb 2, 1902. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
  5. ^
    Bibcode:1996QJRAS..37..683W
    .
  6. ^ Provost, Office of the. "Honorary Degree Recipients - University of Rochester Office of the Provost". Office of the Provost. Retrieved 2022-08-05.
  7. ^ "English Mechanic and World of Science, Volume 70". Google Books. 1900. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lewis_A._Swift&oldid=1215805560"