American Astronomer
Aitken was born in Jackson, California, on
31 December 1864. He took his degree at Williams College, Massachusetts. He
taught at Livermore College from 1888, and in 1891 he was made Professor of
Mathematics at the University of the Pacific. From 1895 onwards he worked at
the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton and he stayed there till his retirement
in 1935 as Director of the observatory.
Aitken did much to advance knowledge of
binary stars that is pairs of stars orbiting about the same point under their
mutual gravitational attraction. During the early years of the project he was
assisted by W.J. Hussey, and they discovered nearly 4500 new binary systems. He
published in 1932 the comprehensive work 'New General Catalogue of Double Stars
within 120 degree of the north pole'. He also produced the standard work, 'The
Binary Stars' (1918).
Aitken's other famous work was his revision
of S.W. Burnham's Catalogue of double stars.
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