John E. Mellish
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John Edward Mellish (12 January 1886 – 13 July 1970, Medford, Oregon) was an American amateur astronomer and telescope builder.<ref name="Boy">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Biography
Mellish was born in Wisconsin, the son of Arthur Mellish (1862–1928) and Judith Sedora Stimson Mellish (1864–1954).<ref name="Boy"/><ref>"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MM2P-J9H : accessed 22 January 2019), John E Mellish in household of Arthur Mellish, St Lawrence town, Waupaca, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 138, sheet 7A, family 126, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,823.</ref> Mellish lived outside of Madison, Wisconsin in Cottage Grove. By age 24 he was credited with discovering or co-discovering two comets: C/1907 G1 (Grigg–Mellish) and C/1907 T1 (Mellish) using home built telescopes, and received astronomical medals from both the United States and Mexico as a result.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He later discovered another three comets: C/1915 C1 (Mellish), C/1915 R1 (Mellish), and C/1917 F1 (Mellish).<ref>NASA PDS Small Bodies Node comet catalog Template:Webarchive, consulted 2012-03-20</ref>
In November 1915 he announced to have observed craters on Mars, and being the second person to do so after E. E. Barnard. Both claims are disputed to this day, but he is still credited to be the first human to recognize craters on Mars using the great 40-inch Yerkes refractor.
A crater on Mars (Mellish) was named in his honor.
In 1931, Mellish confessed to committing incest with his 15-year-old daughter.<ref name="Science">Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> Astronomers advocated that he be spared jail time because of his value to science,<ref name="Science"/><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> and it was proposed that he be sterilized.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> Mellish was held in the Kane County Jail from September 1931 to April 1933, when he was paroled,<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> and he moved to California.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref><ref name="Divorce">Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> His wife divorced him in May 1933 and was given custody of their eight children.<ref name="Divorce"/>
After living in Escondido, California from 1933 to 1936, Mellish relocated to a ranch at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> However he returned to Escondido, where he and his son were arrested in 1938 on charges involving two juvenile girls.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> Mellish died in Medford, Oregon, in 1970.<ref name="Obit">Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref>
See also
References
External links
- Discussion of crater observations on Mars Template:Webarchive
- Wisconsin Academy review The boy astronomer of Cottage Grove