Burnham, Sherburne Wesley

Burnham, Sherburne Wesley, 1838–1921, American astronomer, b. Thetford, Vt. After serving as observer at Dearborn Observatory, Chicago (1877–81, 1882–84), and as astronomer at Lick Observatory (1888–92), he was from 1893 astronomer at Yerkes Observatory and professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Chicago. Although his interest in astronomy had begun with amateur observations, he became outstanding in the field, especially through his discoveries of double stars. He wrote General Catalogue of Double Stars (1906) and Measures of Proper Motion Stars (1913).

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Burnham, Sherburne Wesley (1838–1921) astronomer; born in Thetford, Vt. Trained to be a shorthand reporter, he was an amateur astronomer until he joined the staff of Yerkes Observatory (1897–1914). He reopened the subject of double stars when he counted an additional 1,290 double stars in the northern hemisphere and published his findings in 1900. His General Catalogue of Double Stars (1906) listed all 13,665 double stars in the northern hemisphere.