| Henry Norris Russell Born: 25-Oct-1877
Birthplace: Oyster Bay, NY
Died: 18-Feb-1957
Location of death: Princeton, NJ
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, NJ
Gender: Male
Religion: Presbyterian
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Astronomer, Educator Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Giant stars and dwarfs Henry Norris Russell explained the correlation between spectral types and absolute magnitudes of stars, and confirmed the distinction between giant stars and "dwarfs". He determined stellar masses by analyzing light from eclipsing binary stars, co-authored a textbook that was for decades the world's most widely-used and trusted English-language astronomy resource, and wrote articles in the popular press theorizing that life could exist on millions of planets. At the age of 19 he graduated from Princeton in 1897 insigni cum laude (with extraordinary honor), a designation never used before or since at that institution. He is the namesake of craters on the moon and Mars. Father: Alexander Gatherer Russell (Presbyterian minister, b. 6-Oct-1845, d. 11-Nov-1911)
Mother: Eliza Hoxie Norris Russell (mathematician, "Lillie", b. 9-Oct-1848, m. 1-Aug-1876, d. 26-Sep-1903)
Wife: Lucy May Cole Russell (b. 31-Dec-1881, m. 24-Nov-1908, d. 23-Jun-1968, four children)
Daughter: Lucy May Russell Gardner (b. 26-May-1911 twin, d. 13-Jan-1979)
Daughter: Elizabeth Hoxie Russell (b. 26-May-1911 twin, d. 10-Sep-1967)
Son: Henry Norris Russell, Jr. (physician, b. 13-Sep-1912, d. 13-Mar-1980)
Daughter: Emma Margaret Russell Edmondson (astronomer, b. 17-Feb-1914, d. 16-Jan-1999)
University: BS, Princeton University (1897)
University: PhD Astronomy, Princeton University (1900)
Teacher: Astronomy, Cambridge University (1900-05)
Teacher: Astronomy, Princeton University (1905-11)
Professor: Astronomy, Princeton University (1911-47)
Administrator: Director of Halsted Observatory, Princeton University (1911-47)
Benjamin Franklin Medal 1934 (by the Franklin Institute)
Rumford Prize 1925
Bruce Medal 1925
Henry Draper Medal 1922
Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal 1921
Asteroid Namesake 1762 Russell
American Association for the Advancement of Science President (1933)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Astronomical Society President (1934-37)
American Philosophical Society
National Research Council (1921-24)
Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Society
English Ancestry
Scottish Ancestry
Author of books:
Determination of Stellar Parallax (1911)
Astronomy: A Revision of Young’s Manual of Astronomy (1927, with Raymond S. Dugan and John Q. Stewart)
Fate and Freedom (1927)
The Composition of the Sun (1932)
The Solar System and Its Origin (1935)
The Masses of the Stars (1940, with Charlotte E. Moore)
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