Young, Charles Augustus

Related Category: Astronomy: Biographies

1834–1908, American astronomer, b. Hanover, N.H., grad. Dartmouth, 1853. He discovered the reversing layer of the solar atmosphere and proved the gaseous nature of the sun's corona. He was a pioneer in the study of the spectrum of the sun and experimented in photographing solar prominences in full sunlight. He was professor (1857–66) of astronomy, natural philosophy, and mathematics at Western Reserve College (now Case Western Reserve Univ.), professor of astronomy and natural philosophy at Dartmouth College (1866–77), and professor of astronomy at Princeton (1877–1905). His works include The Sun (1881, rev. ed. 1896), Lessons in Astronomy (1891, rev. ed. 1918), and The Elements of Astronomy (1890, rev. ed. 1919).