Background
Barnard was born on December 16, 1857, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Reuben Barnard and Elizabeth Jane Barnard (née Haywood), and had one brother.
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(Edward Emerson Barnard's Photographic Atlas of Selected R...)
Edward Emerson Barnard's Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way was originally published in two volumes in 1927. Together, these volumes contained a wealth of information, including photographic plates of the most interesting portions of the Milky Way, descriptive text, charts and data. Only 700 copies were printed, making the original edition a collector's item. Reproduced in print for the first time, this edition combines both volumes of Barnard's Atlas. It directly replicates Barnard's text, and contains high-resolution images of the original photographic plates and charts, reordered so that they can be seen together. It also includes a biography of Barnard and his work, a Foreword and Addendum by Gerald Orin Dobek describing the importance of the Atlas and additions to this volume, and a pull-out section with a mosaic of all 50 plates combined in a single panorama.
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Barnard was born on December 16, 1857, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Reuben Barnard and Elizabeth Jane Barnard (née Haywood), and had one brother.
Barnard's early education, with the exception of a few weeks in common school, came from her. At the age of nine he entered the studio of a photographer in Nashville, where he was employed for over sixteen years. This work was undertaken as a mere "job, " but the attention to detail, the training in photographic processes and the acquirement of a knowledge of lenses was of great value to him in his pioneer work in astronomical photography. A stray copy of Dr. Thomas Dick's Practical Astronomer came into his hands in 1876 and furnished him with his first instruction in astronomy. From this book he learned the names of many of the stars which he already knew by sight. In the same year, a one-inch lens from a broken spy-glass found in the street was fitted in a paper tube to form his first telescope. A little later he and his mother were able to spare enough from his earnings to enable him to buy a real telescope of five-inch aperture. His meeting with Simon Newcomb in 1877 was a turning-point in his career. Newcomb told him that to do real research in astronomy he must be well grounded in mathematics. From then on Barnard devoted what time he could to retrieving the education which he had of necessity missed. In 1881 he married Rhoda Calvert, born in Yorkshire, England, who encouraged and helped him in his education.
In 1887 he received the degree of Bachelor of Science.
In May 1881 he discovered his first comet. He observed it again the next night but failed to find it afterward. This discovery was the beginning of his life-long interest in comets. H. H. Warner had offered a prize of two hundred dollars for each unexpected comet discovered by an American observer. The timely winning of five of these prizes made it possible for Barnard to own the little house which he was building. It is still known in Nashville as the "Comet House. "
Barnard discovered many more comets. His intimate knowledge of the heavens made it easy for him to recognize an intruder. A serious decision confronted him when he was offered a fellowship in Vanderbilt University, with a stipend of three hundred dollars. He gave up his work in the studio and devoted his whole time to his studies. In the meantime he had become remarkably familiar with the sky, had made a special study of Jupiter and independently discovered the red spot, and had communicated several papers to the astronomical journals. His skill as an observer had become well enough recognized to secure his appointment as an astronomer at the new Lick Observatory with Holden, Burnham, Schaeberle, and Keeler. Here, as junior astronomer, he was assigned to the twelve-inch telescope and the comet-seeker. During this period he made his striking series of observations of the eclipse of the satellite Japetus by the ring system of Saturn, measuring its changing brightness in the sunlight which filtered through between the separate particles of the crape ring.
During the summer of 1889 he began his photography of the Milky Way, securing the first of those beautiful photographs of its intricate structure. After the resignation of Burnham he was allotted one night a week at the thirty-six-inch. It was natural that he should turn to Jupiter, which he had so often observed with lesser instruments. In the search of its neighborhood he saw a tiny point of light which he at once guessed to be a satellite. Subsequent measures verified the discovery of the fifth satellite of Jupiter. This discovery was recognized by the French Academy of Sciences with the award of the Lalande gold medal. It probably also gave added zest to the search for other satellites which resulted in the discoveries of the faint and distant sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth satellites. His observations in 1904, 1906, and in 1912-13 of the very faint ninth satellite of Jupiter are apparently the only visual observations ever made of this difficult object.
Barnard never lost an opportunity to photograph comets and during his nights at the big telescopes he measured their positions. It was his delight to study these photographs and trace the history of the changes in the comets' tails. He secured no less than 350 photographs of Comet Morehouse (1908 IV), each one an exciting promise of fresh developments. Forty-two of Barnard's comet plates and ninety-two of his photographs of the Milky Way are beautifully reproduced in Volume XI of the Publications of the Lick Observatory. The volume did not appear until nearly twenty years after the photographs were taken, owing to Barnard's dissatisfaction with ordinary means of reproduction--he could not bear to see any of the fine, beautiful details lost.
He accepted a position at the Yerkes Observatory in 1895, and in 1897 plunged into observing with the greatest telescope in the world. He began about this time a micrometric triangulation of some of the globular clusters. This work he continued for nearly twenty-five years, hoping to detect motions of the individual stars. His observation of nov' was frequent and minute. He estimated their brightness and examined them carefully. A record of the focus at which the image was sharpest was a record of the change in spectrum. He discovered visually the nebulous ring about Nova Aurig' in 1892.
The acquisition of the 10-inch Bruce photographic telescope in 1904 was a fresh delight to Barnard in the photography of comets and in the mapping of the Milky Way. His great collection of 1, 400 negatives of comets and of nearly 4, 000 plates of the Milky Way and other star-fields will be of great value when they can be properly evaluated. Nebulous regions were always of great interest to him, especially the dark markings devoid of stars. Gradually he formed the opinion, now generally held, that these are dark nebul', rather than vacancies. No attempt can be made in this article even to mention all the classes of observation to which Barnard's interest led him. His published papers number at least 900. He had two regular observing nights a week with the forty-inch but sometimes worked with it on three or four nights. Many stories are told of his pacing back and forth and of the acuteness of his nervous cough as his night approached with the prospect of clouds. When he was denied the use of the forty-inch he was to be found making long exposures with the Bruce telescope. Frost writes that it was one of his most serious duties as director to keep Barnard from overworking. One of the greatest trials of the latter's life was the refraining from the use of the forty-inch for an entire year on the orders of his doctor.
Barnard is best known for his discovery of the high proper motion of Barnard's Star in 1916, which is named in his honor. He also discovered fifteen different comets, Amalthea, the fifth moon of Jupiter and some other celestial bodies and phenomena. Many honors came to him, including Lalande Prize, Janssen Medal, Bruce Medal.
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
(Edward Emerson Barnard's Photographic Atlas of Selected R...)
He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He was very modest and was often nervous before giving a lecture, but after he was well started and had forgotten himself he was a delightful lecturer. His home was always a center of generous hospitality and friendship. He would take any amount of trouble to he helpful to other astronomers and to laymen interested in astronomy. He was thoroughly beloved by his many friends.
In 1881 he married Rhoda Calvert.
