Editing Henry Norris Russell

{{Short description|American astronomer (1877–1957)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Henry Norris Russell
| image             = Portrait of Henry Norris Russell.jpg
| image_size        =
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1877|10|25|mf=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Oyster Bay (town), New York|Oyster Bay, New York]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1957|2|18|1877|10|25|mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Princeton, New Jersey]], U.S.
| alma_mater        = [[Princeton University]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Charles Augustus Young]]<ref name="mathgene"/>
| doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|
* [[Harlow Shapley]] (1913)
* [[Donald Howard Menzel]] (1924)
* [[Lyman Spitzer]] (1938)<ref name="mathgene">{{MathGenealogy|id=66354}}</ref>
* [[Frank Bradshaw Wood]] (1941)}}
| known_for         = {{Plainlist|
*[[Hertzsprung–Russell diagram]]
*[[Term symbol|Russell–Saunders term symbol]]
*[[Vogt–Russell theorem]]}}
| awards            = * [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] (1921)
* [[Henry Draper Medal]] (1922)
* [[Bruce Medal]] (1925)
* [[Janssen Medal (French Academy of Sciences)]] (1936)
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|ForMemRS]] (1937)<ref name="frs"/>
| signature         = 
| footnotes         = 
| field             = [[Astronomy]]
| work_institutions = [[Princeton University]] 
}}

'''Henry Norris Russell''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|ForMemRS]] [[FRSE|HFRSE]] [[Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society|FRAS]] (October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957) was an American [[astronomer]] who, along with [[Ejnar Hertzsprung]], developed the [[Hertzsprung–Russell diagram]] (1910). In 1923, working with [[Frederick Albert Saunders|Frederick Saunders]], he developed Russell–Saunders coupling, which is also known as [[LS coupling]].<ref>David H. DeVorkin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hAE_6QX28qUC&pg=PA184 Henry Norris Russell] - google books</ref><ref>George Kean Sweetnam, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_8rFFRaTvK4C&pg=PA182 The Command of Light] - google books</ref><ref name="nas">{{Biographical Memoirs|russell-henry-n}}</ref><ref name="mnrasObit">[http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0118//0000311.000.html Obituary MNRAS '''118''' (1958) 311]</ref><ref name="ObsObit">[http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/Obs../0077//0000067.000.html Obituary Obs '''77''' (1957) 67]</ref><ref name="pasObit">[http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/PASP./0069//0000223.000.html Obituary PASP '''69''' (1957) 223]</ref><ref name="DeVorkin">{{cite book
  | last = DeVorkin
  | first =David H
  | title = Henry Norris Russell: Dean of American Astronomers
  | publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]
  | date =2000
  | pages =528 pages
  | isbn = 0-691-04918-1 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/russell/RussellRefs.html |title=Bibliography in Bruce Medalist page for Russell maintained by Joseph Tenn at Sonoma State University |access-date=2012-11-29 |archive-date=2012-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108140035/http://phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/Russell/RussellRefs.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Life==
Russell was born on 25 October 1877, at [[Oyster Bay (town), New York|Oyster Bay, New York]], the son of Rev Alexander Gatherer Russell (1845-1911) and his wife, Eliza Hoxie Norris.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2018-04-27|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After graduating from Princeton Preparatory School in 1893, he studied astronomy at [[Princeton University]], obtaining his [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in 1897 and his doctorate in 1900, studying under [[Charles Augustus Young]].<ref name=DeVorkin/> From 1903 to 1905, he worked at the [[Cambridge Observatory]] with [[Arthur Robert Hinks]] as a research assistant of the [[Carnegie Institution of Washington|Carnegie Institution]] and came under the strong influence of [[George Darwin]].

He returned to Princeton to become an instructor in astronomy (1905–1908), assistant professor (1908–1911), professor (1911–1927) and research professor (1927–1947). He was also the director of the Princeton University Observatory from 1912 to 1947 where [[Charlotte Moore Sitterly]] helped him measure and calculate the properties of stars.

He died in [[Princeton, New Jersey]] on 18 February 1957 at the age of 79.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, Vol. 1, Part 2 |last1=Mehra |first1=Jagdish |author-link1=Jagdish Mehra |first2=Helmut |last2=Rechenberg |author-link2=Helmut Rechenberg |date=2001 |publisher=Springer  |page=686 |isbn=9780387951751 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tUVMSsC9wAC}}</ref> He is buried in [[Princeton Cemetery]].
[[File:Delegates to the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory.jpg|center|thumb|350x350px|Russell at the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at [[Mount Wilson Observatory]], 1910]]

==Family==

In November 1908 Russell married Lucy May Cole (1881-1968). They had four children. Their youngest daughter, Margaret Russell (1914-1999), married the astronomer [[Frank K. Edmondson]] in the 1930s.

==Published work==
Russell co-wrote an influential two-volume textbook in 1927 with [[Raymond Smith Dugan]] and [[John Quincy Stewart]]: ''Astronomy: A Revision of Young’s Manual of Astronomy'' (Ginn & Co., Boston, 1926–27, 1938, 1945). This became the standard astronomy textbook for about two decades. There were two volumes: the first was ''The Solar System'' and the second was ''Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy''. The textbook popularized the idea that a star's properties (radius, surface temperature, [[luminosity]], etc.)
were largely determined by the star's mass and chemical composition, which became known as the [[Vogt–Russell theorem]]
(including Heinrich Vogt who independently discovered the result). Since a star's chemical composition 
gradually changes with age (usually in a non-homogeneous fashion), [[stellar evolution]] results.

Russell dissuaded [[Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin]] from concluding that the composition of the Sun is different from that of the Earth in her thesis, as it contradicted the accepted wisdom at the time. He realized she was correct four years later after deriving the same result by different means.  In his paper Russell credited Payne with discovering that the Sun had a different chemical composition from Earth but never shared the rewards of the fame he readily accepted for her work which he’d failed to recognize until years later.<ref name='newnham'>{{cite web|url=http://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/about-newnham/college-history/biographies/content/cecila-payne-gaposchkin |title=Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900 - 1979) |access-date=2010-03-05 |last=Padman |first=Rachael |date=2004 |work=Newnham College Biographies |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719114925/http://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/about-newnham/college-history/biographies/content/cecila-payne-gaposchkin |archive-date=2009-07-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

* {{cite journal|author1=Henry Norris Russell |author2=Frederick Albert Saunders |title=New Regularities in the Spectra of the Alkaline Earths|journal=Astrophysical Journal|volume=61|date=1925|pages=38–69|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1925ApJ....61...38R|bibcode = 1925ApJ....61...38R |doi = 10.1086/142872 }}
* {{cite book|author1=Henry Norris Russell |author2=Raymond Smith Dugan |author3=John Quincy Stewart |title=Astronomy: A Revision of Young's Manual of Astronomy; Vol. I: The Solar System; Vol. II: Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy|publisher=Ginn & Co.|location=Boston|orig-year=1926–27, 1938 |date=1945}}
* {{cite journal|author=Henry Norris Russell|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1929ApJ....70...11R|title=On the Composition of the Sun's Atmosphere|journal=Astrophysical Journal|volume=70|date=1929|pages=11–82|bibcode = 1929ApJ....70...11R |doi = 10.1086/143197 }}
* {{cite journal|author=Henry Norris Russell|title=Model Stars (13th Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecture)|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|date=1937|volume=43|issue=2|pages=49–77|mr=1563489|doi= 10.1090/S0002-9904-1937-06492-5|doi-access=free}}

==Awards and honors==
* Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1913)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Henry+N.+Russell&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
* Member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] (1918)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry Russell |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20000771.html |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>
* Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1921)<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter R|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterR.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618090045/http://amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterR.pdf |archive-date=2006-06-18 |url-status=live|publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]|access-date=14 April 2011}}</ref>
* [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] (1921)<ref>{{cite web|title=Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society|url=http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268|publisher=[[Royal Astronomical Society]]|access-date=19 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525064844/http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268|archive-date=25 May 2011}}</ref>
* [[Lalande Prize]] (1922)
* [[Henry Draper Medal]] from the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (1922)<ref name=Draper>{{cite web|title=Henry Draper Medal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |access-date=19 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126003930/http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |archive-date=26 January 2013 }}</ref>
* [[Bruce Medal]] (1925)<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal|url=http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html|publisher=[[Astronomical Society of the Pacific]]|access-date=19 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721092933/http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html|archive-date=21 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Rumford Prize]] (1925)<ref name=Rumford>{{cite web|title=Past Recipients of the Rumford Prize|url=http://www.amacad.org/about/rumford.aspx|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=19 February 2011|archive-date=27 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927075008/http://www.amacad.org/about/rumford.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Franklin Medal]] (1934)
* [[Janssen Medal (French Academy of Sciences)|Janssen Medal]] from the [[French Academy of Sciences]] (1936)
* Foreign Member of the [[Royal Society]] (1937)<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Stratton | first1 = F. J. M. | author-link1 = F. J. M. Stratton| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1957.0012 | title = Henry Norris Russell 1877-1957 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 3 | pages = 173–191| year = 1957 | jstor = 769359| s2cid = 73351903 }}</ref>
* Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] (1938)
* [[Henry Norris Russell Lectureship]] (1946)<ref name=AAS>{{cite web|title=Grants, Prizes and Awards|url=http://aas.org/grants/awards.php#russell|publisher=[[American Astronomical Society]]|access-date=19 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222143439/http://www.aas.org/grants/awards.php#russell|archive-date=22 December 2010}}</ref>
* [[Asteroid]] [[1762 Russell]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*[https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4589 Oral history interview transcript with Margaret Russell Edmondson on 21 April 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives] - Margaret Russell Edmondson was Russell's youngest daughter

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Henry Norris}}
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Oyster Bay (town), New York]]
[[Category:American astronomers]]
[[Category:American astrophysicists]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
[[Category:Scientists from Princeton, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Burials at Princeton Cemetery]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Bruce Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]