约翰·斯坦利·普拉斯克特1865—1941

职业生涯

普拉斯基特曾是一名机械师，后来在多伦多大学物理系获得一份机械师的工作，负责制造仪器并在讲课时协助演示。他发现这份工作非常有趣，于是在30岁那年，他报读了数学和物理学的本科课程。他在大学一直待到1903年，从事彩色摄影的研究。

他的正式天文生涯直到1903年才开始，当时他被任命为安大略省渥太华自治领天文台的工作人员。他测量了径向速度，研究了光谱双星，并首次对银河结构进行了详细分析。他的机械背景对于建造各种仪器非常有用。1917年，他成为不列颠哥伦比亚省维多利亚自治领天体物理天文台的第一任主任。

家族

他的儿子哈里·赫姆利·普拉斯基特在天文学领域也取得了巨大成功，1963年获得英国皇家天文学会金质奖章，从而使普拉斯基特家族成为少数拥有超过一位金质奖章获得者的家族之一。

2018年，恰逢自治领天体物理天文台成立一百周年，一本关于约翰·斯坦利·普拉斯基特的权威传记出版。

荣誉

获奖

• 英国皇家天文学会金质奖章（1930）
• 伦福德奖（1930）
• 布鲁斯奖（1932）
• 亨利·德雷伯奖章（1934）
• 大英帝国司令勋章

命名

• NRC-HIA普拉斯基特奖学金
• 普拉斯基特环形山
• 普拉斯基特山
• 普拉斯基特奖章
• 小行星2905
• 普拉斯基特星

John Stanley Plaskett (November 17, 1865 – October 17, 1941) was a Canadian astronomer.

Career

He worked as a machinist, and was offered a job as a mechanician at the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto, constructing apparatus and assisting with demonstrations during lectures. He found this so interesting that at the age of 30 he enrolled as an undergraduate in mathematics and physics. He stayed at the university until 1903, doing research on colour photography.

His formal astronomical career did not start until 1903, when he was appointed to the staff at Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Ontario. He measured radial velocities and studied spectroscopic binaries, and performed the first detailed analysis of galactic structure. His mechanical background was very useful for constructing various instruments. He became first director of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, British Columbia in 1917 (not to be confused with the old Dominion Observatory in Ottawa).

Family and legacy

His son, Harry Hemley Plaskett, also pursued a very successful career in astronomy, winning the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1963, thereby making the Plasketts one of the very few families to boast more than one Medal winner.

An authoritative biography of JS Plaskett was published in 2018, coinciding with the centennial of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory.

Honours

Awards

• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1930)
• Rumford Prize (1930)
• Bruce Medal (1932)
• Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1934)
• CBE

Honors

Elected International Member of the American Philosophical Society (1930)

Named after him

• NRC-HIA Plaskett Fellowship
• The crater Plaskett on the Moon
• Mount Plaskett
• the Plaskett Medal
• Asteroid 2905 Plaskett (with his son H.H. Plaskett)
• Plaskett's star
• Plaskett Place (street on which he built his home, in Esquimalt, British Columbia)