Harold Alden 1189548 225975817 2008-07-16T08:07:54Z VolkovBot 3035831 robot Adding: [[pl:Harold Alden]] '''Harold Lee Alden''' ([[January 10]] [[1890]] – [[February 3]] [[1964]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[astronomer]]. He was born in [[Chicago, Illinois]]. He received a BA from [[Wheaton College]] in 1912, and went on to receive his Master's degree from the [[University of Chicago]] in 1913. He served as an assistant in [[photography|photographic]] [[photometry (astronomy)|photometry]] program of the [[Yerkes Observatory]] [[1912]]-[[1914]]. He studied at the [[University of Virginia]] under [[Samuel Alfred Mitchell]], receiving his Ph.D. in 1917 (title: ''Observations of long period variable stars at the Leander McCormick Observatory''). He became an associate professor at Virginia in [[1924]], but left the following year to become the director of [[Yale University|Yale University's]] newly established (by [[Frank Schlesinger]]) southern station in [[Johannesburg, South Africa]]. Alden spent twenty years at the Yale Observatory working on the long-focus refractor to determine [[parallax]]es of southern stars. He also concerned himself with a study of the probable errors in the parallax plates taken in Johannesburg. Alden returned to the University of Virginia in 1945 to succeed Samuel Alfred Mitchell as Professor of Astronomy, chairman of the Astronomy Department and Director of the [[McCormick Observatory|Leander McCormick Observatory]]. The majority of Alden's work at Virginia, both before and after his term at the Yale Observatory, consisted of measurements of stellar parallaxes, [[proper motions]] and visual observations of long-period [[variable stars]]. He was best remembered for his published studies in long-focus photographic astrometry from both McCormick and Yale Observatories. He was vice-president of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] and chairman of its section D (astronomy) in 1951. From [[1952]] to 1955, he served as the president of Commission 24, the Stellar Parallaxes section, of the [[International Astronomical Union]]. Alden retired from his position at the University of Virginia on [[June 30]], [[1960]]. He died in Charlottesville on [[February 3]], [[1964]], survived by his wife Mildred, three children and eleven grandchildren. The [[Alden (crater)|Alden crater]] on the [[far side (Moon)|far side]] of the [[Moon]] is named in his honor. ==References== *[http://www.astro.virginia.edu/research/observatories/26inch/history/alden.php Harold Lee Alden] {{DEFAULTSORT:Alden, Harold}} [[Category:1890 births]] [[Category:1964 deaths]] [[Category:American astronomers]] [[Category:University of Virginia faculty]] [[Category:University of Virginia alumni]] {{US-astronomer-stub}} [[de:Harold Lee Alden]] [[es:Harold Lee Alden]] [[fr:Harold Alden]] [[pl:Harold Alden]]