Seth Barnes Nicholson

1963

Date of Birth

November 12, 1891

Date of Death

July 2, 1963

Seth Nicholson was born in Springfield, Illinois and raised on a farm in northern Illinois. He became interested in astronomy as an undergraduate at Drake University. As a graduate student at the University of California he was photographing the recently-discovered eighth moon of Jupiter with the 36-inch Crossley reflector when he discovered a ninth. He computed its orbit for his Ph.D. dissertation. At Mt. Wilson Observatory, where he spent his entire career, he discovered three more Jovian satellites, as well as a Trojan asteroid, and computed orbits of several comets and of Pluto. His main assignment at Mt. Wilson was observing the sun with the 150-foot solar tower telescope, and he produced annual reports on sunspot activity and magnetism for decades. He and Edison Pettit used a vacuum thermocouple to measure the temperatures of the moon, planets, sunspots, and stars in the early 1920s. Their temperatures measurements of nearby giant stars led to some of the first determinations of stellar diameters. Nicholson also made a number of eclipse expeditions to measure the brightness and temperature of the solar corona. He served as editor of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1943 to 1955.

Presentation of Bruce medal

Petrie, R.M., PASP 75, 305-07 (1963).

Some offices held

Astronomical Society of the Pacific, President, 1935, 1960-61.

Biographical materials

Herget, Paul, Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Science 42, 201-27 (1971).
Hetherington, Norriss S., Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (Springer, NY, 2007), pp. 833-34.
Richardson, Robert S., The Star Lovers (Macmillan, NY, 1967).
Warner, Deborah Jean, Dictionary of Scientific Biography 10, 107.

Bibliography

Papers, etc.

Some of Nicholson’s papers are at the Huntington Library.

Other References: Historical

Abetti, G., “Magnetic observations of sunspots 1917-1924 by George E. Hale and Seth. B. Nicholson,” Memorie della Societa Astronomia Italiana 12, pp. 253ff (1939).

Adams, Walter S., “Early Days at Mt. Wilson,” PASP 59, 212-231 and 285-304 (1947).

Gilman, Pam, The 150-Foot Solar Tower: History
http://obs.astro.ucla.edu/150_hist.html

Hearnshaw, John B., The Measurement of Starlight: Two Centuries of Astronomical Photometry (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 1996).

Howard, Robert, “Eight Decades of Solar Research at Mount Wilson,” Solar Physics 100,171-87 (1985)

Mason, Todd, A Walking Tour of the Mount Wilson Observatory with Don Nicholson [son], 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onFxe5Azfdw

Nicholson, Seth B., “Edison Pettit, 1889-1962,” PASP 74, 495 (1962).

Sandage, Allan, Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Vol. 1, The Mount Wilson Observatory: Breaking the Code of Cosmic Evolution (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2004).

Simmons, Michael, History of Mount Wilson Observatory

Webster, Larry S., The 150-Foot Solar Tower: Historical Sunspot Drawing Resource Page
http://obs.astro.ucla.edu/resource.html

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Other References: Scientific

Nicholson, Seth B. & Oscar W. Lanzendorf, “Elements and Ephemeris of Comet C 1912 (Borrelly),” Lick Observatory Bulletin 7, 88 (1913) [Bulletin #221].

Nicholson, Seth B., “Discovery, Observations and Orbit of the Ninth Satellite of Jupiter,” Lick Observatory Bulletin 8, 147-49 (1913) [Bulletin #271].

Nicholson, Seth B., “Discovery of the Ninth Satellite of Jupiter,” PASP 26, 197-98 (1914).

Nicholson, Seth B., “Discovery of the Ninth Satellite of Jupiter,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 1, 12 (1915).

Hale, George E., Ferdinand Ellerman, S.B. Nicholson, & A.H. Joy, “The Magnetic Polarity of Sun-Spots,” Ap.J. 49, 153-78 (1919).

Shapley, Harlow & Seth B. Nicholson, “On the Spectral Lines of a Pulsating Star,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 5, 417-23 (1919).

St. John, Charles E. & Seth B. Nicholson, “Determination of the Solar Parallax from Spectroscopic Observations of Venus,” PASP 32, 332 (1920).

St. John, Charles E. & Seth B. Nicholson, “The Physical Constituents of the Atmosphere of Venus,” Phys. Rev. 19, 444 (1922).

St. John, Charles E. & Seth B. Nicholson, “Determination of the Solar Parallax from Spectroscopic Observations of Venus,” PASP 32, 332 (1920).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “The Application of Vacuum Thermocouples to Problems in Astrophysics,” Ap. J. 56, 295-317 (1922).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Measurements of the Radiation from the Planet Mercury,” PASP 35,194-98 (1923).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Radiation Measures on the Planet Mars,” PASP 36,269-72 (1924).

Hale, George E. & Seth B. Nicholson, “The Law of Sun-Spot Polarity,” Ap.J. 62, 270-300 (1925) [The Hale-Nicholson Polarity Law].

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “The Diurnal Maximum of Temperature on Mars,” Astronomische Nachrichten 225, 331-34 (1925).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “On the Theory of the Continuous Spectrum of the Corona,” Ap. J. 64, 136-41 (1926).

Nicholson, Seth B., “The Life of a Sun-spot,” PASP 38, 347-49 (1926).

Nicholson, Seth B., “The Orbit of the Ninth Satellite of Jupiter,” PASP 39, 242-44 (1927).

Nicholson, Seth B. & Nicolas Perrakis, “Evidence of Boron in the Sun,” Ap.J. 68, 327-34 (1928).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Stellar Radiation Measurements,” Ap. J. 68, 279-308 (1928).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “The Ten Brightest Stars,” PASP 40,198-200 (1928).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Lunar Radiation and Temperatures,” Ap. J. 71, 102-03 (1930).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Spectral Energy-Curve of Sun-Spots,” Ap. J. 71, 153 (1930).

Nicholson, Seth B. & Nicholas U. Mayall, “Positions, Orbit, and Mass of Pluto,” Ap. J. 73, 1-12 (1931).

Nicholson, Seth B., A. van Maanen, & H.C. Willis, “A Preliminary Determination of the Mass of Neptune's Satellite’ PASP 43, 261-62 (1931).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Measurements of the Radiation from Variable Stars,” Ap. J. 78, 320-53 (1933).

Nicholson, Seth B., “The Area of a Sun-Spot and the Intensity of Its Magnetic Field,” PASP 45, 51-52 (1933).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Radiation from the Planet Mercury,” Ap. J. 83, 84-102 (1936).

Hale, George Ellery & Seth Barnes Nicholson, Magnetic Observations of Sunspots, 1917-1924 (Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC, 1938).

Nicholson, Seth B., “Two New Satellites of Jupiter,” PASP 50, 292 (1938).

Nicholson, Seth B., “Discovery of the Tenth and Eleventh Satellites of Jupiter and Observations of These and Other Satellites,” Astron. Journal 48, 129-32 (1939).

Nicholson, Seth B., “Solar Activity at the Eclipse of July 9, 1945,” PASP 57, 193 (1945).

Pettit, Edison & Seth B. Nicholson, “Temperatures on the Bright and Dark Sides of Venus,” PASP 60, 37 (1948).

Wulf, Oliver R. & Seth B. Nicholson, “A Possible Influence of the Moon on Recurrent Geomagnetic Activity,” Phys. Rev. 73, 1204-05 (1948).

Wulf, Oliver R. & Seth B. Nicholson, “On the Identification of the Solar M-Regions Associated with Terrestrial Magnetic Activity” PASP 67, 293 (1955).

Nicholson, Seth B. & Oliver R. Wulf, “The Diurnal Variation of Irregular Geomagnetic Fluctuations,” Journal of Geophysical Research 60, 389-94 (1955) and 63, 803-06 (1958).

Nicholson, Seth B., “A Sunspot Group in Exceptionally High Latitude,” PASP 69, 80-82 (1957).

Nicholson, Seth B. & Oliver R. Wulf, “The Diurnal Variation of K Indices of Geomagnetic Activity on Disturbed Days in 1949–1957,” Journal of Geophysical Research 67, 4593-99 (1962).

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Other Works: Popularizations, History, etc.

Nicholson, Seth B., “The Satellites in the Solar System,” PASP 32, 1399 (1920).

Nicholson, Seth B.., “The Earth’s Magnetism,” Leaflets of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2, 153-56 (1936) [Leaflet #89].

Nicholson, Seth B., “The Sun in Action,” PASP 55, 5-13 (1943).

Nicholson, Seth B.., “Large Sunspots,” Leaflets of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 5, 57-64 (1946) [Leaflet #207].

Nicholson, Seth B., “The Current Sunspot Cycle,” Sky & Telescope 6, 3 (1947).

Nicholson, Seth B., “Jupiter XII,” Sky & Telescope 11, 79 (1952).

Nicholson, Seth B.., “Comets of Recent Years,” Leaflets of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 7, 305-12 (1957) [Leaflet #338].

Nicholson, Seth B., “The Solar Cycle,” Leaflets of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 7, 385-92 (1958) [Leaflet #348].

Nicholson, Seth B.., “The Trojan Asteroids,” Leaflets of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 8, 239-46 (1961) [Leaflet #381].

Nicholson, Seth B.., “Jupiter,” Leaflets of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 9, 57-64 (1963) [Leaflet #408].