James Craig Watson 583796 222842689 2008-07-01T11:24:57Z Cydebot 1215485 Robot - Moving category Deaths of peritonitis to Deaths from peritonitis per [[WP:CFD|CFD]] at [[Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2008 June 21]]. {| class="wikitable" align="right" style="margin: 1em; margin-top: 0;" |+ '''[[Asteroid]]s discovered: 22''' | [[79 Eurynome]] || [[September 14]] [[1863]] |- | [[93 Minerva]] || [[August 24]] [[1867]] |- | [[94 Aurora]] || [[September 6]] [[1867]] |- | [[100 Hekate]] || [[July 11]] [[1868]] |- | [[101 Helena]] || [[August 15]] [[1868]] |- | [[103 Hera]] || [[September 7]] [[1868]] |- | [[104 Klymene]] || [[September 13]] [[1868]] |- | [[105 Artemis]] || [[September 16]] [[1868]] |- | [[106 Dione]] || [[October 10]] [[1868]] |- | [[115 Thyra]] || [[August 6]] [[1871]] |- | [[119 Althaea]] || [[April 3]] [[1872]] |- | [[121 Hermione]] || [[May 12]] [[1872]] |- | [[128 Nemesis]] || [[November 25]] [[1872]] |- | [[132 Aethra]] || [[June 13]] [[1873]] |- | [[133 Cyrene]] || [[August 16]] [[1873]] |- | [[139 Juewa]] || [[October 10]] [[1874]] |- | [[150 Nuwa]] || [[October 18]] [[1875]] |- | [[161 Athor]] || [[April 19]] [[1876]] |- | [[168 Sibylla]] || [[September 28]] [[1876]] |- | [[174 Phaedra]] || [[September 2]] [[1877]] |- | [[175 Andromache]] || [[October 1]] [[1877]] |- | [[179 Klytaemnestra]] || [[November 11]] [[1877]] |} '''James Craig Watson''' ([[January 28]] [[1838]]–[[November 22]] [[1880]]) was a [[Canada|Canadian]]-[[United States|American]] [[astronomer]] born in the village of [[Fingal, Ontario|Fingal]], [[Ontario]] Canada. His family relocated to [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]] in [[1850]]. At age 15 he was [[matriculation|matriculated]] at the [[University of Michigan]], where he studied the classical languages. He later was lectured in [[astronomy]] by professor [[Franz Brünnow]]. He was the second director of [[Detroit Observatory]] (from [[1863]] to [[1879]]), succeeding [[Franz Brünnow]]. He wrote the textbook ''Theoretical Astronomy'' in [[1868]]. He discovered 22 [[asteroid]]s, 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''). He was a strong believer in the existence of the planet [[Vulcan (planet)|Vulcan]], a hypothetical planet closer to the [[Sun]] than [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], which is now known not to exist (however the existence of small [[Vulcanoid]] planetoids remains a possibility). He believed he had seen such two such planets during a July [[1878]] solar eclipse in [[Wyoming]]. He died of [[peritonitis]] at the age of only 42. He had amassed a considerable amount of money through non-astronomical business activities. By bequest he established the [[James Craig Watson Medal]], awarded every three years by the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] for contributions to [[astronomy]]. The [[asteroid]] [[729 Watsonia]] was named in his honour. ==References== * {{cite book | author = Richard Baum and William Sheehan | title = In Search of Planet Vulcan, The Ghost in Newton's Clockwork Machine | date = 1997 | id = ISBN 0-306-45567-6 }} ==External links== * {{cite web | url = http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=39435 | title = Biography | publisher = Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online }} <!-- * http://www.detroitobservatory.umich.edu/JAHH2003/DetroitObservatoryArticle.pdf -- dead link --> {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, James Craig}} [[Category:1838 births]] [[Category:1880 deaths]] [[Category:19th century astronomers]] [[Category:Asteroid discoverers]] [[Category:American astronomers]] [[Category:Canadian Americans]] [[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]] [[Category:People from Ann Arbor, Michigan]] [[Category:People from Elgin County, Ontario]] [[Category:Pre-Confederation Ontario people]] [[Category:Deaths from peritonitis]] [[de:James Craig Watson]] [[es:James Craig Watson]] [[fr:James Craig Watson]] [[it:James Craig Watson]] [[ja:ジェームズ・クレイグ・ワトソン]] [[nn:James Craig Watson]] [[pl:James Craig Watson]] [[pt:James Craig Watson]] [[sl:James Craig Watson]] [[zh:詹姆斯·克雷格·沃森]]