Hussey, William Joseph

(b, Mendon, Ohio, 10 August 1862; d. London, England, 28 October 1926)

astronomy.

Hussey was the son of John Milton Hussey and the former Mary Catherine Severns. His education at the University of Michigan was both delayed and interrupted by the need to earn his way; he graduated in civil engineering with the class of 1889. His interest turned to astronomy and following a brief period with the U. S. Nautical Almanac Office, he returned to the University of Michigan for three years as instructor in mathematics and astronomy. From 1891 to 1892 he served as acting director of the Detroit observatory. An appointment in 1892 as assistant professor of astronomy at Leland Stanford Junior University brought Hussey to California, where he had the opportunity to work as a volunteer assistant at the newly established Lick Observatory. In 1896 he was appointed astronomer on the Lick staff, a position he held until 1905. He then accepted an appointment at the University of Michigan as professor of astronomy and director of the Detroit observatory. He continued in this position until his death.

Hussey’s scientific reputation in research rests largely on his extensive discovery and measurement of double stars, made for the most part at the Lick Observatory but also at the observatory of the University of La Plata, Argentina. He was director at La Plata during 1912–1915, concurrently with his service at the University of Michigan.

In 1903 Hussey investigated possible observing sites in southern California and near Flagstaff, Arizona, for the Carnegie Institution of Washington. His enthusiastic report on Mt. Wilson was largely responsible for its selection for what subsequently became the Mt. Wilson Observatory; he likewise reported favorably on Mt. Palomar.

An ardent promoter, as early as 1903, of observatories in the southern hemisphere, Hussey visited Australia in that year to survey promising sites. His work at La Plata resulted in the increased efficiency of the observatory. His final and most important accomplishment in this area was the establishment, with financial support from R. P. Lamont, of an observatory at Bloemfontein, South Africa. Equipped with a twenty-seven-inch refractor, this observatory was designed primarily for double-star observations. On his way to Bloemfontein to oversee the installation of the telescope, Hussey died suddenly in London.

During his twenty-one years at the University of Michigan, Hussey organized the Detroit observatory on a modern and efficient basis by adding to its equipment a 37.5-inch reflector with a spectrograph suitable for astrophysical work. He established a reputation as an outstanding observatory director and as a devoted and inspiring teacher.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Hussey wrote numerous technical and scientific works, of which a list of references may be found in Astronomischer Jahresbericht, vols. 1–28 (1899–1926). Among his more important astronomical writings are Micrometrical Observations of the Double Stars Discovered at Pulkowa, Lick Observatory publication no. 5 (Berkeley, Cal., 1901); “Third Series of Observations of the Satellites of Saturn,” in University of California publications, Astronomy. Lick Observatory Bulletin, no. 68 (1905), pp. 71-76; “Observations of One Hundred and Twenty-seven New Double Stars,” ibid., no. 117 (1907), pp. 124-129; “A General Account of the Observatory,” in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the University of Michingan, 1 (1912), 3–34; and “Observations of the Double stars Discovered at La Plata,” ibid., (1914), pp. 147–160.

II. Secondary Literature. There are obituary notices in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 87 (1927), 260; Popular Astronomy, 34 (1926), 605; and publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 29 (1927), 35, which deals entirely with Hussey as a teacher.

C. D. Shane