# Edison Pettit

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**Edison Pettit** (September 22, 1889 – May 6, 1962) was an American [astronomer](/source/Astronomer).

He was born in [Peru, Nebraska](/source/Peru,_Nebraska). Pettit received his bachelor's degree from the [Nebraska State Normal School in Peru](/source/Peru_State_College).[1] He taught astronomy at [Washburn College](/source/Washburn_University) in [Topeka, Kansas](/source/Topeka,_Kansas) from 1914 to 1918. He married [Hannah Steele Pettit](/source/Hannah_Steele_Pettit), who was an assistant at [Yerkes Observatory](/source/Yerkes_Observatory), and received his Ph.D. from the [University of Chicago](/source/University_of_Chicago) in 1920.

Shortly after he became a staff member at [Mount Wilson Observatory](/source/Mount_Wilson_Observatory). He initially specialized in [solar](/source/Sun) astronomy and built his own [thermocouples](/source/Thermocouple). He also made visual observations of [Mars](/source/Mars) and [Jupiter](/source/Jupiter). Even after his retirement he continued to make [spectrographs](/source/Spectrograph) for various observatories in the machine shop in his home. His two daughters, [Marjorie Pettit Meinel](/source/Marjorie_Pettit_Meinel) and [Helen Pettit Knaflich](/source/Helen_Pettit_Knaflich) were both astronomers.[2]

[Pettit crater](/source/Pettit_(lunar_crater)) on the [Moon](/source/Moon) and another [Crater](/source/Impact_crater) on Mars are named after him.

## References

1. Nicholson, Seth B. (December 1962). "Edison Pettit, 1889-1962". *Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific*. **74** (441): 495. [Bibcode:1962PASP...74..495N](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1962PASP...74..495N). [doi:10.1086/127863](https://doi.org/10.1086/127863)

1. Meinel, Marjorie Steele (2014), ["Pettit, Edison"](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1079), *[Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers](/source/Biographical_Encyclopedia_of_Astronomers)*, Hockey, Thomas (ed.), New York, NY: [Springer](/source/Springer_Nature), pp. 1695–1697, [Bibcode:2014bea..book.1695M](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014bea..book.1695M). [doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1079](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1079). ISBN 978-1-4419-9917-7, retrieved 2023-02-19

## External links

- ["Edison Pettit Papers: Finding Aid"](https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf9q2nb3w2/entire_text/). *Online Archive of California*. Retrieved 2023-01-12.

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