Charles Dillon Perrine (July 28, 1867June 21, 1951) was an American astronomer at the Lick Observatory in California (1893-1909) who moved to Cordoba, Argentina to accept the position of Director of the Argentine National Observatory (1909-1936). The Cordoba Observatory under Perrine's direction made the first attempts to prove Einstein's theory of relativity by astronomical observation of the deflection of starlight near the Sun during the solar eclipse of October 10, 1912 in Cristina (Brazil), and the solar eclipse of August 21, 1914 at Feodosia, Crimea, Russian Empire. Rain in 1912 and clouds in 1914 prevented results.
In 1897 he was awarded the Lalande Prize and gold medal by the Paris Academy of Sciences given each year ″to the person who makes the most outstanding observation ... to further the progress of Astronomy, in France or elsewhere.″. He served as president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1902, was elected an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1904, and was awarded the gold medal of the Mexican Astronomical Society in 1905. In the same year he received the degree of Doctor of Sciences (honorary) from Santa Clara College (today Santa Clara University.
Biography
Early years
Charles was born in Steubenville, Ohio, the son of Peter, a Methodist minister, and Elizabeth (McCauley) Perrine. He was a descendant of Daniel Perrin, "The Huguenot", and Maria Thorel whose marriage was the first (European) recorded in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, (Feb 18, 1666). Following high school graduation in 1884, he moved to Alameda, California in about 1886 and worked as a bookkeeper at Armour & Co., a meat-packing business in San Francisco.
Interested in photography and astronomy from an early age, and unable to afford a college education, "he nevertheless looked forward to engaging in astronomical work". Perrine responded to a general invitation to amateurs in astronomy and photography from E. S. Holden, the Director of the newly established Lick Observatory (1888), to observe the total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 in Northern California. Perrine's report and photographs caught the attention of the Director who hired him as Secretary in 1893. Holden agreed to Perrine's "fixed purpose of devoting his spare time to the study of astronomical and related subjects, by way of preparation for later observatory duties".
Career
As his experience, skills, and discoveries grew he was promoted to Secretary and Assistant Astronomer (1895), Assistant Astronomer (1902), and Astronomer (1905).
From 1895 to 1902 Perrine discovered eight unexpected and four periodic comets including the co-discovery of the lost periodic comet 18D/Perrine-Mrkos in 1896 (see list below). Antonín Mrkos later named the asteroid 6779 Perrine after him. The lunar crater Perrine is also named after him.
In 1904-05 he discovered the sixth and seventh moons of Jupiter, today known as Himalia (December 3, 1904) and Elara (February 21, 1905) using telescopic photography (glass plate negatives) with the 36-inch Crossley Reflector which he had recently rebuilt. At the time they were simply designated "Jupiter VI" and "Jupiter VII" and were given their present names in 1975. The first certain observations of Jupiter's moons (I - IV) were those published by Galileo Galilei in 1610. No additional moons were discovered until E. E. Barnard observed Amalthea (Jupiter V) in 1892.
Perrine participated in four solar eclipse expeditions of the Lick Observatory: 1900 (Georgia, USA), 1901 (Sumatra), 1905 (Spain), and 1908 (Flint Island), and was in charge of the one sent to Sumatra. Also in 1901, he and George Ritchey observed the apparent superluminal motion in the nebulosity surrounding Nova Persei 1901.
In 1909 he resigned from the Lick Observatory to accept the position of Director of the Argentine National Observatory (today, Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba) at Cordoba, Argentina, a position which he held until his retirement in 1936 at age 69.