Physics History Network
Over 1000 biographies of physicists and histories of institutions with information pertaining to their lives, careers, and research.
Tip: Search within this page by using Ctrl + F or ⌘ + F
Search Our Catalogs
Archives BooksCollections
Emilio Segré Visual Archives Digital Collections Oral Histories Archival Finding Aids Physics History Network Member Society Portals Ethical Cataloging StatementPreservation and Support
Donating Materials Suggest a Book Purchase Saving Archival Collections Grants to Archives Documentation Projects History NewslettersCenter for History of Physics
Scholarship & OutreachMain Navigation
HomeAboutTopic GuidesFeedbackTable of Contents
Biography
AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjectsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectHenry Norris Russell
Dates
October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957
Authorized Form of Name
Russell, Henry Norris, 1877-1957
Biography
Abstract
Henry Norris Russel was Emeritus Research Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University (1947-1957). His contributions to astronomy included the color magnitude diagram; eclipsing binary theory and calculations; spectrum analysis, laboratory and stellar; the masses of stars, including analysis of visual double stars; the popularization of astronomy at a high level; solar and stallar composition and constitution; the origin of the planets and comets; characteristics of planetary atmospheres; the contacts of religion with science, and vice versa; and general consulting on all astronomical and spectroscopic problems.
Important Dates
October 25, 1877Birth, Oyster Bay (N.Y.).
1897Obtained AB, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).
1898Obtained AM, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).
1899Obtained PhD in Astronomy, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).
1903 – 1905Carnegie Assistant, Cambridge Observatory, Cambridge University.
1905 – 1957Instructor in Astronomy (1905-1908); Assistant Professor of Astronomy (1908-1911); Professor of Astronomy (1911-1927); Director, Princeton Observatory (1912-1947); Research Professor of Astronomy (1927-1947); and Emeritus Research Professor of Astronomy (1947-1957), Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).
1918Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1918 – 1919Engineer, Bureau of Aircraft Production, United States Department of War.
1933President, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
1934 – 1937President, American Astronomical Society.
1944Research, National Bureau of Standards.
1948 – 1952Research Associate, Harvard College Observatory, Harvard University.
February 18, 1957Death, Princeton (N.J.).
Occupation
Astronomer.
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Relationships
People
Family
Russell, H. (Henry), 1912-
Son.
Advisors & Collaborators
Menzel, Donald H. (Donald Howard), 1901-1976
Advised by Russell at Princeton University, "A Study of Line Intensities in Stellar Spectra."
Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972
Advised by Russell at Princeton University, "The orbits of eighty-seven eclipsing binaries--a summary."
Advised by Russell at Princeton University, "The Spectra of Late Supergiant Stars," and both employed at Princeton University.
Stewart, John Quincy, 1894-1972
Co-wrote "Astronomy: A revision of Young's Manual of Astronomy" with Raymond Smith.
Young, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1834-1908
PhD advisor at Princeton University, "General Perturbations of the Major Axis of Eros by the Action of Mars."
Colleagues
Eisenhart, Luther Pfahler, 1876-1965
Both employed at Princeton University.
Additional
Aller, Lawrence H. (Lawrence Hugh), 1913-2003
Atkinson, Robert d'Escourt, 1898-1982
Baker, James Gilbert
Barton, Henry Askew, 1898-1983
Biermann, Ludwig, 1907-1986
Bowen, Ira Sprague, 1898-1973
Chandrasekhar, S. (Subrahmanyan), 1910-1995
Compton, Betty Charity McCloskey, 1916-
Dunham, Theodore, 1897-1984
Dupree, Andrea K.
Edmondson, Frank K. (Frank Kelley), 1912-
Edmondson, Margaret Russell
Greenstein, Jesse L. (Jesse Leonard), 1909-2002
Harrington, Marshall Cathcart, 1904-
Herring, William Conyers, 1914-
Hoffleit, Dorrit
Hubble, Edwin, 1889-1953
Huffer, Charles M. (Charles Morse), 1894-
Joy, Alfred H. (Alfred Harrison), 1882-1973
King, Robert B. (Robert Burnett)
Kron, Gerald Edward, 1913-
Locanthi, Dorothy Davis, 1913-1999
McCrea, William Hunter
McMath, Robert R. (Robert Raynolds), 1891-1962
Meggers, William F. (William Frederick), 1888-1966
Moore, Charlotte Emma, 1898-1990
Morgan, W. W. (William Wilson), 1906-1994
O'Connell, D. J. K.
O'Keefe, John Aloysius, 1916-
Olivier, Charles P. (Charles Pollard)
Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia, 1900-1979
Pease, F. G. (Francis Gladheim), 1881-
Plaskett, Harry Hemley, 1893-
Rohrlich, F.
Saunders, Frederick A. (Frederick Albert), 1875-1963
Schlesinger, Frank, 1871-1943
Schwarzschild, Martin
Sciama, D. W. (Dennis William), 1926-
Shane, Charles Donald, 1895-1983
Shane, Mary Lea Heger, 1897-1983
Shenstone, A. G. (Allen Goodrich)
Struve, Otto, 1897-1963
Unsold, Albrecht, 1905-
Van de Kamp, Peter, 1901-1995
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913
Wesselink, Adriaan Jan, 1909-1995
Wood, Frank Bradshaw, 1915-
Wright, F. E. (Frederic Eugene), 1877-1953
Institutions
Major Positions
Harvard College Observatory
Research Associate.
Princeton University. Department of Astrophysical Sciences
Obtained AB (1897), AM (1898), and PhD (1899). Instructor in Astronomy; Assistant Professor of Astronomy; Professor of Astronomy; Research Professor of Astronomy; and Emeritus Research Professor of Astronomy.
United States. National Bureau of Standards
Researcher.
United States. War Department
Engineer, Bureau of Aircraft Production.
University of Cambridge. Observatory
Carnegie Assistant.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
American Association for the Advancement of Science
President.
President.
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Member.
National Research Council (U.S.)
Princeton University. Observatory
Director.
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
Edwin Powell Hubble collection, 1900-1989.
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
Harvard College Observatory records, letters of condolence to Edward Charles Pickering regarding the death of Willamina Paton Fleming, 1911.
Archives. Pusey Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Henry N. Russell correspondence [microform], 1890-1950.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Henry Norris Russell papers, 1894-1980.
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Princeton University
1 Washington Road, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
History of Modern Astrophysics collection, 1849-1979.
Library.
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Manuscript of article, The probable distance of Orion, and letter to Russell from Edwin B. Frost, editor of the Astronomical Journal, rejecting the manuscript for publication, 1907.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Mount Wilson Observatory records of George Ellery Hale, 1901-1925.
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
Otto Struve selected correspondence [microform], 1932-1945.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Robert R. McMath papers, 1916-1962.
Bentley Historical Library
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2113, USA
Theodore Dunham papers, 1926-1977 (bulk 1926-1955).
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
Subject
AIP Center for History of Physics grant proposals, 1961-1986.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Albert Einstein collection, 1913-1975 (bulk 1930-1955).
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Princeton University
1 Washington Road, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Alfred H. Joy papers, 1910-1972.
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
American Astronomical Society records, 1897-1988 (bulk 1920-1980).
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Charles P. Olivier correspondence, 1915-1962.
Library
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Dedication of McDonald Observatory at Fort Davis, Texas [motion picture] / taken by Peter Van de Kamp.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Ebbe Rasmussen papers, 1928-1952.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Francis G. Pease papers, 1850-1937 (bulk 1905-1937).
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
Frank Schlesinger Allegheny Observatory correspondence [microform], 1905-1920.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Frederic Eugene Wright papers, 1924-1961.
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
Fritz Rohrlich correspondence, 1946-1955.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Harlow Shapley papers [microform], 1910-1923.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Ira S. Bowen correspondence, 1934.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Marshall Cathcart Harrington response to early 1930s Ph.D.s Survey, 1980.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Notes on lectures at Princeton by Henry Norris Russell and others, on such topics as astrophysics, statistical mechanics, and Dirac theory, and Laue lectures, circa 1930.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Adriaan J. Wesselink, 1977 September 23 and 1978 June 21.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Albrecht Unsöld, 1978 June 6.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Albrecht Unsöld, 1984 February 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Allen Goodrich Shenstone 1979 March 20.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Andrea Dupree, 2007 October 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Betty Compton, 1968 April 11 and 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Carl Henry Eckart, 1962 May 31.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Cecilia Helena Payne Gaposchkin, 1968 March 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Charles Donald Shane, 1967 July 11 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Charles M. Huffer, 1977 July 8.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Charlotte Moore Sitterly, 1978 June 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Charlotte Moore Sitterly, 1981 January 27.
NIST Research Library and NIST Archives
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Information Services Division. 100 Bureau Drive, MS 2500, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA
Oral history interview with Daniel Joseph Kelly O'Connell, 1976 August 31.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Dennis William Sciama, 1999 June 9.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Dorothy Davis Locanthi, 1977 August 3.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit, 1979 August 4.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frank Bradshaw Wood, 1977 November 4.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frank K. Edmondson, 1977 April 21 and 1978 February 2.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frank K. Edmondson, 1996 October 30.
Office of University Archives and Records Management
Indiana University
Bryan Hall 201, 107 South Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Oral history interview with Geoffrey Burbidge, 1975 June 4
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Gerald Edward Kron, 1978 May 20.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Harlow Shapley, 1966 June 8 and August 25.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Harry Hemley Plaskett, 1978 March 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Henry A. Barton, 1970 March 3 and 16.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Henry Norris Russell, Jr., 1977 November 2.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Ira Bowen, 1968 August 9 and 1969 August 26.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with James Baker, 1980 June 9.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Jesse Leonard Greenstein, 1974 July 31.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Jesse Leonard Greenstein, 1977 April 7, July 21, 26 and 1978 May 19.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John A. O'Keefe, 1993 February 2.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Lawrence H. Aller, 1979 August 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Ludwig Franz Benedikt Biermann, 1984 February 16.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral History interview with Lyman Spitzer, 1991 November 27.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Lyman Spitzer, Jr., 1977 April 8 and 1978 May 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Margaret Russell Edmondson, 1977 April 21.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Mary Lea Heger Shane, 1967 July 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral History interview with Paul Routly, 1990 September 25.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Peter Van de Kamp, 1977 April 9 and 1979 March 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert B. King, 1992 March 8.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert d'Escourt Atkinson, 1977 April 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert S. Shankland, 1974 August 20 and 21.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with S. Chandrasekhar, 1977 May 17, 18 and October 31.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Theodore Dunham, 1977 April 30 and 14 April 1978.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with W. W. Morgan, 1978 August 8 and 9.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Conyers Herring, 1974 July 23, 29, and 31 October.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Hunter McCrea, 1978 September 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Robert d'Escourt Atkinson Selected correspondence [microform], 1927-1955.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Theodore Dunham Selected papers [microform], 1921-1979, (bulk 1930-1960)
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
William F. Meggers addition to papers, 1870-1973 (bulk 1906-1966).
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
William F. Meggers papers, 1917-1966.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Published Resources
Author
Fate and freedom / by Henry Norris Russell.
The solar system and its origin / by Henry Norris Russell.
Subject
"Henry Norris Russell and the H-R Diagram," Sky and Telescope 55 (1978): 306-310
"Henry Norris Russell: 1877-1957", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
"Steps Toward the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram," Physics Today 31 (1978): 32-39
"Venus 1882: Public, Parallax, and HNR," Sky and Telescope 64 (1982): 524-526
Henry Norris Russell : dean of American astronomers / David H. DeVorkin.