William Wilson Morgan

Born on 3 January 1906 in Bethesda, Tennessee, William Wilson Morgan was an astronomer who specialized in stellar and galactic classification. After three years of undergraduate study at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, Morgan took a staff position at the University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1931. Throughout his career Morgan did the dirty work of observing, analyzing, and then classifying stars and galaxies based on their form and structure. He co-developed the MKK system of spectral classification and the UBV system for classifying the brightness of cosmic objects. His careful analyses allowed him to determine that the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. His awards included the Bruce Gold Medal and the Herschel Medal. He died in 1994 at age 88. (Photo credit: David DeVorkin, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives)

Date in History: 3 January 1906