Edward Skinner King

Background

Edward Skinner King was born on May 31, 1861 in Liverpool, New York, New York, United States, the son of Nathaniel and Cornelia C. (Skinner) King. From his paternal ancestors he inherited a scholarly tradition.

Education

In 1887 King received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College, having distinguished himself in mathematics during his college days.

Career

Dr. C. H. F. Peters, then professor of astronomy at Hamilton College, realizing the talent of King, sent him in 1887 to Professor Pickering, director of the Harvard Observatory. Pickering found in the diffident young man a person who could undertake responsibility, and within two years King was in charge of the Harvard observing station near the summit of Mount Wilson, California. Under King's hands, two extensive programs of work were undertaken in the early nineties, the standard testing of all photographic plates used, and the photographic photometry of astronomical objects on a uniform scale. The standard testing of photographic plates was carried on continuously for forty years. In addition to providing valuable specific information about the plates used, this work made King master of a wealth of knowledge about photographic method. Some of the fruits of the experience of forty years are stored in his Manual of Celestial Photography (1931), following some years after his Photographic Photometry (1912). King's work abounds in ingenious methods, some of them leading to important results.

King was successively observer (1887 - 1913), assistant profesor (1913 - 1926), and Phillips Professor (1926 - 1931) at the Harvard Observatory. He practically lived out his life in office, surviving his resignation but ten days. Among his colleagues King moved as a very individual figure, profoundly faithful to his work, and intensely loyal to the Observatory. As an avocation, he delighted in old books, of which he had an interesting collection. The discovery of a common interest in such matters caused him to drop his more usual diffident manner, and to appear as a delightful raconteur. The greater part of his contributions to science are to be found in the annals, circulars, and bulletins of the Harvard Observatory, where he published a large number of papers of a fundamental nature. He also did great service by his popular writing, published usually in the more ephemeral periodicals, but always distinguished by the fine style and punctilious care that were characteristic of all his work.

Achievements

• Edward Skinner King was the first to photograph the spectrum of the aurora borealis, and his photographic device for the observation of occultations is remarkable in its simplicity. He was also an independent discoverer of the Hartmann-Cornu formula, although he did not publish his results until long after Hartmann had done so. Better known perhaps are his determinations of the apparent magnitudes of the sun, moon, and earth. His determinations of the brightness of the lucid stars will long be standard, though they were among the first contributions to a branch of astronomy notoriously difficult of conquest.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Photographic Photometry Forming A Part Of The Henry Draper Memorial

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • THE PATHFINDER STAR MAPS
  • A Manual of Celestial Photography: Principles and Practice for Those Interested of Phographing the Heavens

Membership

King was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Astronomical Society and the Société Astronomique de France, an honorary member of the Maria Mitchell Association, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Connections

In 1890 King was married to Kate Irene Colson, of Batchellerville, New York, and with her he shared the remainder of his days.

Father:

Nathaniel King

Mother:

Cornelia C. (Skinner) King

Spouse:

Kate Irene Colson

References

• The History and Work of Harvard Observatory, 1839 to 1927; an Outline of the Origin, Development, and Researches of the Astronomical Observatory of ... With Brief Biographies of its Leading Members