James Craig Watson Medal
Encyclopedia
James Craig Watson
James Craig Watson was a Canadian-American astronomer born in the village of Fingal, Ontario Canada. His family relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1850....
, and is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
for contributions to astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
.
The recipients have been:
| 1887 | Benjamin A. Gould |
| 1889 | Ed Schoenfeld |
| 1891 | G. F. J. A. Auwers Arthur Auwers Georg Friedrich Julius Arthur von Auwers was a German astronomer.Auwers was born in Göttingen, attended the University of Göttingen and worked at the University of Königsberg. He specialized in astrometry, making very precise measurements of stellar positions and motions... |
| 1894 | Seth Carlo Chandler Seth Carlo Chandler Seth Carlo Chandler, Jr. was an American astronomer.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. During his last year in high school he performed mathematical computations for Benjamin Peirce, of the Harvard College Observatory.After graduating, he became the assistant of Benjamin A. Gould... |
| 1899 | David Gill David Gill (astronomer) Sir David Gill FRS was a Scottish astronomer who is known for measuring astronomical distances, for astrophotography, and for geodesy. He spent much of his career in South Africa.- Life and work :... |
| 1913 | J. C. Kapteyn Jacobus Kapteyn Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, was a Dutch astronomer, best known for his extensive studies of the Milky Way and as the first discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation.... |
| 1916 | Armin O. Leuschner |
| 1924 | C. V. L. Charlier Carl Charlier Carl Vilhelm Ludwig Charlier was a Swedish astronomer.He received his Ph.D. from Uppsala University in 1887, later worked there and at the Stockholm Observatory and was Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory at Lund University from 1897.He made extensive statistical studies of the... |
| 1929 | Willem De Sitter Willem de Sitter Willem de Sitter was a Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer.-Life and work:Born in Sneek, De Sitter studied mathematics at the University of Groningen and then joined the Groningen astronomical laboratory. He worked at the Cape Observatory in South Africa... |
| 1936 | Ernest W. Brown |
| 1948 | Samuel A. Mitchell |
| 1951 | Herbert R. Morgan |
| 1955 | Chester B. Watts |
| 1957 | George Van Biesbroeck George Van Biesbroeck George A. Van Biesbroeck was a Belgian-American astronomer. He worked at observatories in Belgium, Germany and the United States. He specialized in the observation of double stars, asteroids and comets... |
| 1960 | Yusuke Hagihara Yusuke Hagihara was a Japanese astronomer noted for his contributions to celestial mechanics.Hagihara graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a degree in astronomy in 1921 and became an assistant professor of astronomy there two years later. In 1923 the Japanese government sent him abroad as a traveling... |
| 1961 | Otto Heckmann Otto Heckmann Otto Hermann Leopold Heckmann was a German astronomer.He directed the Hamburg Observatory from 1941 to 1962, after which he became the first director of the European Southern Observatory. , Otto Heckmann He actively contributed to the creation of the third issue of the Astronomische Gesellschaft... |
| 1964 | Willem J. Luyten |
| 1965 | Paul Herget Paul Herget Paul Herget was an American astronomer.Herget taught astronomy at the University of Cincinnati. He was a pioneer in the use of machine methods, and eventually digital computers, in the solving of scientific and specifically astronomical problems .During World War II he applied these same talents... |
| 1966 | Wallace J. Eckert |
| 1969 | Jurgen Moser Jürgen Moser Jürgen Kurt Moser or Juergen Kurt Moser was a German-American mathematician.-Professional biography:... |
| 1972 | André Deprit |
| 1975 | Gerald Maurice Clemence Gerald Maurice Clemence Gerald Maurice Clemence was an American astronomer. Inspired by the life and work of Simon Newcomb, his career paralleled the huge advances in astronomy brought about by the advent of the electronic computer. Clemence did much to revive the prestige of the U.S... |
| 1979 | Charles T. Kowal |
| 1982 | Stanton J. Peale |
| 1985 | W. Kent Ford, Jr |
| 1986 | Robert B. Leighton |
| 1991 | Maarten Schmidt Maarten Schmidt Maarten Schmidt is a Dutch astronomer who measured the distances of quasars.Born in Groningen, The Netherlands, Schmidt studied with Jan Hendrik Oort. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Leiden Observatory in 1956.... |
| 1994 | Yasuo Tanaka Yasuo Tanaka (astronomer) is a Japanese astrophysicist. He is professor emeritus at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Kanagawa, Japan, and was guest scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany.... |
| 1998 | Carolyn S. Shoemaker and Eugene M. Shoemaker |
| 2001 | David Todd Wilkinson David Todd Wilkinson David Todd Wilkinson was a world-renowned pioneer in the field of cosmology, specializing in the study of the cosmic microwave background radiation left over from the Big Bang. He was born in Hillsdale, Michigan, and earned his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Michigan under the supervision... |
| 2004 | Vera C. Rubin Vera Rubin Vera Rubin is an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. She is famous for uncovering the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion, by studying galactic rotation curves... |
| 2007 | Michael Skrutskie and Roc Cutri |
| 2010 | Margaret Geller Margaret Geller Margaret Joan Geller is an American astronomer and professor. She is a Senior Astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and has written numerous articles and produced several award-winning scientific short films.... |