Willem Hendrik van den Bos

Astronomer

1896 – 1974

44

Who was Willem Hendrik van den Bos?

Willem Hendrik van den Bos was a Dutch-South African astronomer. At least one source refers to him as Van der Bos, but this seems to be an error.

He initially worked at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, but came to Union Observatory in South Africa in 1925, becoming director in 1941.

He discovered thousands of double stars and recorded tens of thousands of micrometer measurements of such stars, calculating the orbits of a number of binary stars.

He was president of the Astronomical Society of South Africa in 1943 and 1955.

Some biographical sources say he discovered more than a hundred asteroids; however the Minor Planet Center does not credit him with any asteroid discoveries.

The asteroid 1663 van den Bos is named after him, as is the lunar crater van den Bos.

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Born
Sep 25, 1896
Nationality
  • Netherlands
  • South Africa
Profession
Employment
  • Titles in academia, Union Observatory
    (1941 - 1956)
Lived in
  • Rotterdam
Died
Mar 30, 1974

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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