Plaskett, John Stanley

Plaskett, John Stanley

 

Born Nov. 17, 1865, in Hick-son, near Woodstock; died Oct. 17, 1941, in Esquimalt. Canadian astronomer specializing in stellar spectroscopy.

From 1905 to 1917, Plaskett worked at the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, and from 1917 to 1934 he was director of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, which was constructed on his initiative. Plaskett primarily worked on the determination of the radial velocities of stars and studied the motion of distant stars and interstellar gas in order to substantiate the theory of galactic rotation.

WORKS

The Structure and Rotation of the Galaxy. Washington, D. C, 1935.

REFERENCE

Beals, C. S. “John Stanley Plaskett.” The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 1941, vol. 35, no. 309.