Astronomer Biography: James Keeler

            James Edward Keeler was born September 10^th, 1857 in La Salle, Illinois to parents William Keeler, assistant paymaster on an ironclad steamship, and Anne Dutton. During his successful career, Keeler made many important contributions to modern astronomy that would last far into the future.

            Keeler and his family lived in La Salle where he attended public school as a young child. They shortly after moved to Mayport, Florida, where he was homeschooled. Keeler began to develop an interest in astronomy at a young age when he witnessed the solar eclipse that occurred in 1896. At age eighteen, Keeler built his first telescope which allowed him to view different objects in the night sky including Jupiter and Saturn. Keeler’s love of astronomy prompted philanthropist Charles H. Rockwell to fiscally support Keeler in attending John Hopkins University. During his time at John Hopkins, Keeler went with a research team to view the solar eclipse that occurred in 1878. He graduated in 1881 with degrees in Physics, German, Math, Chemistry, and Astronomy. Keeler then went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to work for professor Samuel Pierpont. With Pierpont, Keeler traveled to California to calculate the infrared radiation of the sun. After graduation, Keeler began working at the Lick Observatory.

           At the Lick Observatory in California, Keeler used the telescope he had built to measure emission wavelengths and the spectra of different nebulas. Keeler was one of the first to utilize Spectroscopy to study and analyze the composition of light from stars and other celestial objects. Keeler married Cora Slocomb and was one of the pioneers of astrophysics. Keeler theorized that like stars, nebulae were also in motion. Keeler invented the spectrograph so that he could photograph spectral lines. He then realized that James Maxwell’s hypothesis stating that Saturn’s rings were actually made up of numerous particles, each individual particle orbiting the planet, was correct. He named his discovery “Keeler’s gap”. Keeler additionally contributed to improving current understanding of Spiral Nebulae and Spiral Galaxies through his research at the Lick Observatory using the Crossley Reflector Telescope.  Most of his observations were in and around the constellation Andromeda, in M object 31. Keeler also studied in depth the Orion nebula. Keeler additionally discovered two asteroids, 452 Hamiltonia and A900 MA, in 1899 and 1900.

          In 1895, along with George Hale, Keeler founded the Astrophysical Journal for communication among the adherents of the “New Astronomy.”  Keeler became director of the Lick Observatory, director of the Allegheny Observatory and received the Henry Draper medal and Rumford Prize. James Keeler’s many achievements changed the realm of modern astronomy. Many of his discoveries helped establish what we are learning today in modern times.