BornQuenington, Gloucestershire, England, 26 April 1894
DiedSouth Marston, Wiltshire, England, 23 September 1975
William Steavenson was renowned for his observational skills and knowledge of instruments. Steavenson was the youngest child of Reverend Frederick Robert Steavenson, rector of Quenington, Gloucestershire.
Steavenson came to astronomy early, and on 25 December 1917, he noted in one of his observation diaries that it was “the tenth anniversary of my astronomical birthday.” This signified the occasion in 1907 when, having viewed the Moon through a 1.75-in. aperture telescope, Steavenson suddenly appreciated the potential of even a modest telescope. Soon after he was given an equatorially mounted 3-in. refractor on a wooden tripod, and began serious observation of the Moon, the planets (especially Jupiter, Saturn, and their satellites), and whatever comets and novae he could access.
By 1910, Steavenson had entered into published correspondence with long-standing contributors to T...
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Selected References
Dewhirst, David W. (1977). “William Herbert Steavenson.” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 18: 147–154.
Fry, R. M. (1976). “William Herbert Steavenson, 1894–1975.” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 86: 386–390.
Phillips, Theodore Evelyn Reece and William Herbert Steavenson (eds.) (1923). Hutchinson’s Splendour of the Heavens, A Popular Authoritative Astronomy. London: Hutchison and Co.
Steavenson, William Herbert (1915–1916). “Note on Low Powers.” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 26: 302–303.
— (1964). “The Satellites of Uranus.” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 74: 54–59.
Tayler, R. J. (ed.) (1987). History of the Royal Astronomical Society. Vol. 2, 1920–1980. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, pp. 154, 216.
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Baum, R. (2014). Steavenson, William Herbert. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1312
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