FRANCIS J. HEYDEN, S.J. (1907-1991)

89 textual records

Born in Buffalo , New York , he entered the Society of Jesus in 1924. In 1945, he finished his doctoral studies at Harvard University , where he was a teaching fellow in astronomy from 1942 to 1944. From 1950 to 1972 Heyden was Director of Georgetown Observatory. He was also Professor at Georgetown University where he taught courses in descriptive astronomy, stellar statistics and galactic structure. His principal research was devoted to the study of planetary and solar spectra and he built several large-scale spectrographs. Between 1947 and 1963 he took part in seen expeditions to different parts of the world to observe solar eclipses. In 1972, after Georgetown Observatory was closed, Heyden went to the Manila Observatory, Philippines where he continued working on solar spectroscopy and taught at the Ateneo de Manila. He was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and member of the International Astronomical Union.

(Source: Udias, Agustin. (2003). Searching the heavens and the earth: the history of Jesuit Observatories. Dordrecht : Kluwer Academic Press)