Born near Cassopolis, Michigan, USA, 17 May 1873
Died Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 20 July 1964
American photometrist Frederick Seares was responsible for a large fraction of the work of measuring accurate apparent brightnesses of stars as part of a multi‐observatory project to understand the distribution of stars in the Milky Way. He was the son of Isaac Newton Seares and Ella Ardelia (née Swartwout) Seares, and, after two family moves to Iowa and California, received his BS in 1895 from the University of California (Berkeley). The university later awarded Seares an LLD, and he also had an honorary degree from the University of Missouri.
Seares obtained a position of instructor at the University of California and married Mabel Urmy. Soon, though, he decided to continue his education in Europe, studying first at the University of Berlin for a year and then at the Sorbonne in Paris for another year. Seares then returned to the United States with his family to take a position of professor of...
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Selected References
Hale, George E., Frederick H. Seares, Adriaan van Maanen, and Frederick Ellerman (1918). “The General Magnetic Field of the Sun: Apparent Variation of Field‐Strength with Level in the Solar Atmosphere.” Astrophysical Journal 47: 206–254.
Seares, Frederick H. (1913). “The Photographic Magnitude Scale of the North Polar Sequence.” Astrophysical Journal 38: 241–267.
——— (1914). “Photographic Photometry with the 60‐Inch Reflector of the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory.” Astrophysical Journal 39: 307–340.
——— (1915). “Photographic and Photo‐visual Magnitudes of Stars Near the North Pole.” Astrophysical Journal 41: 206–236.
——— (1915). “Color‐Indices in the Cluster NGC 1657.” Astrophysical Journal 42: 120–132.
——— (1931). “Effect of Space Absorption on the Calculated Distribution of Stars.” Astrophysical Journal 74: 91–100.
——— (1931). “A Numerical Method of Determining the Space Density of Stars.” Astrophysical Journal 74: 268–287.
——— (1938). “Photoeletric Magnitudes and the International Standards.” Astrophysical Journal 87: 257–279.
——— (1940). “The Dust of Space.” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 52: 80–115.
Seares, Frederick H. and Edwin P. Hubble (1920). “The Color of the Nebulous Stars.” Astrophysical Journal 52: 8–22.
Seares, Frederick H. and Mary C. Joyner (1943). “Effective Wave Lengths of Standard Magnitudes; Color Temperature and Spectral Type.” Astrophysical Journal 98: 302–330.
——— (1952). “Photovisual Magnitudes and Color Indices in 42 Kapteyn Selected Areas.” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 64: 202–204.
Seares, Frederick H., Frank E. Ross, and Mary C. Joyner (1941). Magnitudes and Colors of Stars North of +80°. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 532. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Seares, Frederick H., P. J. van Rhijn, Mary C. Joyner, and Myrtle L. Richmond (1925). “Mean Distribution of Stars According to Apparent Magnitude and Galactic Latitude.” Astrophysical Journal 62: 320–374.
Seares, Frederick H., J. C. Kapteyn, P. J. van Rhijn, Mary C. Joyner, and Myrtle L. Richmond (1930). Mount Wilson Catalogue of Photographic Magnitudes in Selected Areas 1–139. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 402. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington.
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Wilds, R.P. (2007). Seares, Frederick Hanley. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_1252
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