Sydney Observatory Papers No.31
SYDNEY OBSERVATORY : 1858 to 1958 Part 5
By HARLEY WOOD
HENRY CHAMBERLAINE RUSSELL
Immediately after the death of Smalley, his assistant, Russell,
was appointed to succeed him.
Henry Chamberlaine Russell was born at West Maitiand in New South
Wales on 1836, March 17. He was educated at the local Church of
England Grammar School and at Sydney University. After graduation as
B.A. he was appointed on 1859, January a computer at the Observatory
under Scott. His father was the Honourable Bourn Russell, who was a
member of the Legislative Council from 1858 till his death in
1880.
Russell, reversing Smalley’s policy,
decided todevote himself to the astronomical work which could be
carried on at the Observatory itself without necessitating absences
and a letter to John Tebbutt on 1870, November 29, shows that he had
already begun to work energetically on double stars with the
equatorial telescope and on a meridian programme with transit
instrument. As soon as the necessary arrangements could be made to
work on the base line was handed over to the Surveyor General.
In 1871 Russell arranged for a time ball to be dropped at
Newcastle as Smalley had recommended. This was afterwards placed on
the Custom House building and dropped for many years at 1 p.m. lie
also organise a group to observe the total solar eclipse in northern
Australia where he was frustrated by cloud. He made and published
charts with measures of the positions of the stars near Eta Argus and
the cluster Kappa Crucis. [pg. 14]
The work on double stars, which Russell had so promptly begun, was
continued during the whole of the time that he was Director of the
Observatory. Measures of the orbital motion of double stars about one
another afford a means of estimating the masses of the stars. The
foundation of double star astronomy in the southern hemisphere was
laid by John Herschel during his stay at the Cape of Good Hope from
1834 to 1838 and Russell’s first object
was to make a new measure of doubles discovered by Herschel to find
any which would show a motion. He and his assistants, L. Hargrave, J.
A. Pollock and R. P. Sellors, made a substantial contribution to
double star work in the Southern Hemisphere. The measures were
published in contributions to the Journal and Proceedings of the
Royal Society of New South Wales, in two small volumes printed by the
Government Printer in 1882 and 1891 and, during the latter part of
the period, in Astronomische Nachrichten. About five hundred new
double stars were discovered.
At the time when Russell took office preparations were being made
to observe the transit of Venus on 1874, December 9. Astronomers had
great hopes that observation of this phenomenon would give a more
accurate value for the distance of the Sun. He decided to take an
active part in the work and, with the support of the Observatory
Board, he asked in a letter, 1872, August 20, that the Government
grant resources to make the observations. He pointed out that it was
“of the utmost importance to secure as
many observing stations as possible in the Southern Hemisphere” and that the eastern coast of Australia was
very favourably situated. He was supported by the Royal Society of
New South Wales which appointed a deputation to urge upon the
Government the importance of this work. A grant was obtained for the
purchase of an 11½ refractor and other instruments necessary
to equip several observing stations. In the next two years much of
Russell’s energy was devoted to this
project. He had meteorological observations made for the selection of
stations and trained twelve observers, nine of whom were volunteers
not of the the staff of the Observatory to occupy four stations which
were at Woodford, Goulburn, Eden and at the Observatory in Sydney.
Because instrument makers in Europe were already fully engaged before
he was able to place orders lie orders he has to design and supervise
the construction of much of the equipment himself. The weather was
satisfactory on the day of the transit except at Eden where cloud
intervened before egress. A large number of photographs was taken by
the parties and these were measured at Greenwich under Airy’s direction with financial help from the
Government of New South Wales. The results Russell’s parties received due weight in the
complete analysis which gave the solar parallax as 8.85 arcsec.
Although this result is now known to be too it would happen
appreciably higher without the results from New South Wales.
Here it may be mentioned that full preparations were made for the
observation of the transit of on 1882, December 7, but cloudy weather
prevented observations being made.
After the observation of the transit of Venus of 1874 Russell went
to Europe, present the results in England and to purchase instruments
required by the Trigonometric Survey. was absent from February to
October of 1875 and made the acquaintance of astronomers and
instrument makers in Europe and America, which he also visited. He
afterwards maintained a cordial correspondence with several of these,
including, Adam Hilger, Alvan Clark and Airy. Among the instruments
ordered during this journey was a six inch transit instrument from
Troughton and Sims of London. The transit programme this instrument,
which arrived in January, 1877, included besides catalogue work,
co-operation with the Surveyors General in New South Wales and
Queensland the determination of longitudes [pg.15] In 1883 extensive
observations and exchange of time signals were carried out to
determine longitudes of the stations where the transit of Venus had
been observed in 1882. The values were the best available for many
years. It will be seen that although Russell had given up
responsibility for survey work he had by no means lost interest in
it. The standards of measurement for surveying were still maintained
at the 0bservatory and the working standards, including those of
Queensland, compared with them. During most of this time A. H.
Lenehan was responsible for the transit work which in later years was
mainly on reference stars for the Sydney Section of the Astrographic
Catalogue. Only the results to the end of 1881 were published but
those for later years, although for the most part reduced, never
appeared and for this Russell and Lenehan each blamed the other.
The resources of the Observatory were much increased. As well as
the transit instrument, the 11½-inch refractor made by Hugo
Schroeder of Hamburg was acquired and in about September, 1877, the
west wing of the building, including a new dome, was completed.
Russell’s work in meteorology, which
he helped to found in Australia, was actuated by a clear vision of
the requirements of the country. As he said, in a letter to the
Consul for the United States in answer to an inquiry about
irrigation, after “I was appointed
astronomer, knowing what important questions could only be answered
by statistics about rain, rivers and evaporation, I began at once to
collect them and educate the people to keep rain records”. In the course of time the effort to
increase the number of places reporting meteorological results by the
enlistment of volunteer observers was very successful. From the
modest beginnings, in the time of Scott and Smalley, the number grew
to 290 in 1881 and to more than 1,600 by 1898. In collaboration with
Ellery (Melbourne) and Todd (Adelaide) Russell arranged in 1877 for
the exchange by telegraph of meteorological observations from
selected stations in each state. This was designed to be “of immediate value to our maritimecommunity
and others” and to “add largely to our knowledge of our climate
generally and (…of…) movement of atmospheric
disturbance.” He began, in February
1877, the publication of a daily weather chart the character of which
was improved in 1888 to include more detail, such as isobars. The
meteorological work was a heavy task since, it was necessary to
maintain a constant stream of correspondence with observers, to
establish new stations, to send instructions, instrument,, and
supplies and answer inquiries and to deal with inexperience and
negligence of observers and to arrange for repair or replacement of
damaged instruments. Russell wrote many papers on meteorological
subjects. In his later years he did a great deal of work which hoped
would lead to the recognition of periodical changes in climate and
weather. He came to have a great deal of confidence in his 19 year
weather cycle.
The work on terrestrial magnetism and on tides was continued. The
tide gauge at Fort Denison was maintained and one designed by Russell
installed at Newcastle in December. 1870. Gauges were established at
other ports in later years. The magnetic work ceased when the
installation of electric trams in the vicinity interfered with it. A
series of magnetic results was published in the journal of the Royal
Society of New South Wales in 1871.
Russell was interested in the application of photography to
astronomical work. In 1886 and 1887 he made, with Pollock, some
experiments on the measurement of double stars by photography using
the four inch aperture lens of 52 feet focal length which had been
obtained from Alvan Clark for observation of the transit of Venus in
1882. No results of this work were published. He also took
photographs of the Moon-on at first with an enlarging lens on the
11½ inch telescope and later with the astrograph. When it was
decided to hold at Paris in 1807 the conference which [pg. 16] lead
to the decision to compile by photography a great star catalogue
Russell was invited. He undertook portions of the work on behalf of
the Observatories at Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney Observatory, at
first allotted the zone −34° to −40°, was
eventually assigned the plates centred on declinations from
−52° to −61° andMelbourne from -60° to the
Pole. Russell designed and the mounting of the astrographic telescope
made in Sydney by the Morts Dock Engineering, Co. and the Atlas
Engineering Co. The photographic lens was ordered from Hollard Grubb
and was received in Sydney on 1890 September 19. While awaiting the
arrival of this he purchased a 6 inch portrait lens (focal length 32
inches) with which he took a number of photographs of Milky Way
fields, a selection of these being published. Among photographs taken
at this time were of long exposure of the Magellanic Clouds. He
pointed out the spiral structure the larger cloud and expressed
himself as disappointed that others did not think as obvious as he
did.
The Work on the Astrographic Catalogue, then began. Russell had a
good deal corresponding with European astronomers, particularly
Mouchez of Paris, the work and it is evident that he and Ellery
expected more definite help was forthcoming towards standardising the
methods of work. When nothing came of a plan to set up in Paris a
central measuring bureau for all zones there was established in 1898
in Melbourne, with resources provided by the governments of Victoria
and New South Wales, a bureau for the measurement of positions of the
on the catalogue plates taken in Melbourne and Sydney. Russell had
planned to have the astrographic telescope set up at a site outside
of Sydney and took some to select a satisfactory one “in of the proposed City Railway possible
close tothe present 0bservatory” and
leading to thenecessity for its removal at a whole. A place was
reserved at Red Hill, near Pennant Hills, in 1893 but these were
years of financial difficulty when thirteen out of twenty five banks
in New South Wales were forced to suspend operations and all
Government departments, including the 0bservatory, were being
compelled to economise and so it was until 1899 that the move was
made. The new site was appreciably better for observational work
since it was often clear at Red Hill when it was cloudy at Sydney
Russell was a most energetic worker and in a list of his works
there are 134 publications. It has not been possible to describe many
of his less important contributions. No account of his work would be
complete without mention of his talent as a designer of instruments
of which twenty three are listed with his works. Among these maybe
mentioned his description in 1878 of an equatorial mounting with a
yoke at the upper end of the polar axis and the telescope mounted in
the same way as was later adopted for the 200 inch telescope on Mount
Palomar. A reflecting telescope on this pattern was construction and
and portions of the mount still exist. There is an example of his
portable anemometer in the Science Museum at South Kensington. He
was, besides, responsible for a number of self-recording has on
meteorological instruments. This kind of work, he said, “has on me sometimes like asking one to have
a smoke, so much do 1 enjoy designing self-recording machines
”.
Russell had several able assistants during his term. Lawrence
Hargrave, a son of Judge Hargrave, was appointed to the staff of the
Observatory in September, 1878, and resigned at the end of 1883 after
lie had “received a considerable sum of
money - proceeds of sale of land in Illawarra”. He afterwards became well known for his
experiments in aerodynamics and maintained friendly relations with
Russell, on whom he relied for meteorological information. [pg.
17]
J. A. Pollock was appointed as acting instrument maker in 1885 and
at the end of the year became astronomical observer. He remained
until 1888 when he resigned to accept a post at Sydney University,
where he was later Professor of Physics from 1899 to 1902.
R. P. Sellors was appointed in 1890 and transferred to the
Surveyor General’s Branch in 1900 after
which he had a successful Public Service career. These three
observers were the ones who did so much observation of double stars
as well as general observations with the equatorial telescope.
particularly of positions of comets, regularly, reported in Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Besides these assistants
may be mentioned H. A. Hunt, who became first Head of the
Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau on 1907, January 1.
Russell was a vigourous character and many of his letters to
meteorological observers were more forthright than would not be
considered acceptable. He could also exceedingly blunt with members
of the Observatory staff but was always kindly, if somewhat formal,
in time of sicknessor trouble and supported them, it was possible, in
negotiation with his Department for improved pay or conditions. His
correspondence reveals cordial relations with his colleagues,
particularly Ellery and later Baracchi of Melbourne. In September,
1877, an attempt was made on his life by someone who caused to be
delivered to him a boxcontaining explosive. Abrasive paper attached
to the inside of the sliding lid of the box was arranged to light
some matches and ignite the explosive in a normal opening of the box.
Russell however recognised some grains of the explosive and took
special precautions. The messenger and carpenter at the Observatory
was charged with the crime but was acquitted after trial in which,
without legal assistance, he very ably conducted his own defence. An
attack was also made on Russell in 1889 by one of his workmen.
In 1886 Russell was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1890
a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He was
several times President of the Royal Society of New South Wales and
was in 1888 the first President of the Australasian Association for
the Advancement of Science. His term as a member of the Senate of
Sydney University from 1873 to 1907 included a period as Vice
Chancellor in 1891.
Having taken ill Bright’s disease in
Octobe1903, Russell had a period of leave and finally retired on
1905, February 28, but remained in occupation of the Observatory
residence until his death on 1907, February 22.
Last Update : 14th November 2012
Southern Astronomical Delights ©
(2012)
For any problems with this Website or Document please e-mail
me.
|