James Craig Watson
583796
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2008-07-01T11:24:57Z
Cydebot
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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]]
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