Harold Spencer Jones

Sir Harold Spencer Jones

Sir Harold Spencer Jones was an English astronomer. He was born on 29 March 1890 and died on 3 November 1960. He was known for his work in positional astronomy, which looks at the exact places of stars and other objects in space.

Spencer Jones was the tenth Astronomer Royal for 23 years. In this job, he helped people learn more about the night sky and how objects in space move. He received many honors for his work, such as being made a Knight Bachelor and joining important groups like the Royal Society.

Early life

Harold Spencer Jones was born in Kensington, London, on 29 March 1890. His father was an accountant, and his mother had been a school teacher. He went to Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, West London. He earned a scholarship to study at Jesus College, Cambridge. He finished his studies there in 1911 and later became a Fellow of the college.

Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1913–1923

In 1913, he became Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich after Arthur Eddington left to teach at Plumian Professor of Astronomy in Cambridge. Soon after, in December 1913, he joined the Royal Astronomical Society.

He studied how the Earth moves in space and also looked at how stars move. In 1914, he traveled to Minsk to watch a total solar eclipse. Later, during the First World War, he helped the Ministry of Munitions with optics work.

After the war, he kept studying stars and the Earth. He also wrote a book called General Astronomy. In 1921, he joined the British Astronomical Association. In 1922, he went to Christmas Island to watch another total solar eclipse to learn more about how the Sun's light affects stars, but clouds made it hard to see.

His Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope, 1923–1933

Sir Harold Spencer Jones became the leader of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope in 1923 after the previous leader passed away. He and his wife went to South Africa and arrived there in December.

During his time there, Spencer Jones worked to make the observatory better. He helped the staff study many stars using pictures from telescopes. They measured how stars move slowly across the sky and how bright they are. They also learned how far away stars are.

Spencer Jones studied the Earth and the Moon. He watched the Moon when it passed in front of stars. He also measured the distance from the Earth to the Sun by watching the planet Mars and a small planet called 433 Eros when it came close to Earth in 1930–1931. His work helped scientists understand these distances better. For this important research, he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society.

Astronomer Royal, 1933–1955

In 1933, Spencer Jones became the Astronomer Royal and returned to Britain to lead the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. He worked to bring in new team members and better tools for studying the stars. He also helped improve how the observatory kept track of time and managed the Nautical Almanac Office.

During World War II, the observatory’s work was interrupted. Some staff left to help with the war, and Spencer Jones and his team moved to a safer place in Surrey. After the war, they returned to Greenwich but planned to move to a new location away from city lights. In 1948, Spencer Jones moved to Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex, though it took ten more years to finish building the new observatory there. He oversaw the building of new facilities for the instruments from Greenwich.

Spencer Jones was very interested in keeping and studying time. He led the British Horological Institute and was president of the International Astronomical Union and the Royal Astronomical Society. He was knighted in 1943 and received a KBE in 1955. In 1947, he became the first President of the Royal Institute of Navigation, and in 1951, the Institute’s highest award, the Gold Medal, was named after him.

Sir Frank Dyson • Astronomer Royal • Nautical Almanac Office • Abinger • Herstmonceux Castle • Isaac Newton Telescope • British Horological Institute • International Astronomical Union • Royal Astronomical Society • knighted • KBE • Royal Institute of Navigation

Personal life

Sir Harold Spencer Jones had a wife named Lady Gladys Mary Owens Spencer Jones. They had two sons named John and David. John worked as a jet pilot in the Royal Air Force when he started his career.

Retirement and later life

Spencer Jones stopped working as Astronomer Royal in 1955. After that, he kept working with many science groups. He passed away on 3 November 1960 at the age of 70.

Opinions about space travel

After Harold Spencer Jones left his job, his successor, Richard Woolley, was misquoted by the press in 1956. They said he thought traveling to space was not possible.

There is also a story that Spencer Jones once said traveling to space was not practical before the Sputnik 1 launch in 1957. Some people think he may not have said this exact phrase, but it was printed in New Scientist magazine in 1959 while he was still alive.

In an article he wrote for New Scientist in 1957, twelve years before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, Spencer Jones shared his belief. He thought it would take many generations for anyone to land on the Moon. He also believed people would never travel beyond the Moon unless something went very wrong during a launch.

Honours and awards

Sir Harold Spencer Jones received many awards for his work. In 1943, he was given the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Medal. He also received the Prix Jules Janssen from the French astronomical society in 1945, and the Bruce Medal in 1949.

Other honors include the Gold medal of the British Horological Institute in 1946 and the Lorimer Medal of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh in 1953.

He was also recognized by being elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1942, the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1943, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1945. In 1944, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Astronomy in our Daily Life.

Features named after him include the crater Spencer Jones on the Moon, the crater Jones on Mars, and Asteroid 3282 Spencer Jones.