COUSINS, Alan William James [Dr.]
Amateur
turned Professional Astronomer
Born: 8 August 1903, Cape Town, South Africa.
Died: 11 May 2001, Cape Town, South Africa.
Photo Gallery: Cousins
Index:
Summary:
Cousins did photoelectric photometry, establishing UBV stellar standards in the E region of the southern celestial hemisphere. (The A, B, C, D, E, etc. regions represent declination zones from the North to the South Poles, and were designated by early Harvard photometrists. [Smits; Kilkenny])
Between 1917 and 1921, Alan studied at Pretoria Boys High School. He entered the University of the Witwatersrand in 1922 on a Barnato Scholarship to study electrical engineering, graduating in 1925 with a B.Sc. (Eng) and the Vice-Chancellor's medal for best student.
After graduating, Alan spent a year at the C.A. Parsons engineering firm
in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north of England, then returned to South
Africa to work for the Electricity Supply Commission (ESKOM) in power-generating
stations in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban until 1947.
Career:
Cousins was an amateur astronomer.
1941: Became Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
1947: Joined the Cape
Observatory as a professional astronomer.
1971: Received the Jackson-Gwilt Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society.
1972 (October 31): Retired.
Personal:
Born: 8 August 1903, Cape Town, South Africa.
Died: 11 May 2001, Cape Town, South AfricCousins maternal grandfather
was Sir James Murray, initiator and first editor of the Oxford English
Dictionary. His paternal grandfather was a missionary in Madagascar and
translated the Bible into Malagasy. His father, Clarence Wilfred, was
a senior civil servant in South Africa and at different times held important
posts such as Director of the Census and Secretary for Labour.
Cousins had two children.
Link to the Telescope Manufacturers.
Link to the Main Bibliography Section and more information about Sources.
Bibliography:
Glass, I., Alan Cousins, 1903 - 2001 (Biography), MNASSA, Vol. 60, Nos. 7 & 8, 2001, August.
Kilkenny, D. AWJ Cousins (1903 – 2001) A Scholar and a gentleman. Press release by SAAO on website.
Kilkenny, D., Alan Cousins: A brief biography, MNASSA, Vol. 52, Nos. 7 & 8, 1993, August.
Smits, P., A Brief History of Astronomy in Southern Africa. (Unpublished)
Obituary: Alan William Cousins 1903 - 2001, A&G, Vol. 42, Issue 4, 2001, August.
By Cousins:
Encyclopedia Wikipedia
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Obituary by D. Kilkenny at SAAO.
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