Eric Mervyn Lindsay

Eric Mervyn Lindsay ( born January 26, 1907 in Portadown, County Armagh in Northern Ireland, † 27 July 1974) was an Irish astronomer.

Lindsay was the child of Richard and Susan Lindsay and went to Dublin to King's Hospital School. Subsequently, he attended the Queen's University of Belfast, where he in 1928 the B.Sc. and 1929, the M.Sc. obtained. Later he went to Harvard University, where he received the Ph.D. in 1934

Later, Lindsay went to South Africa for further astronomical studies and married Sylvia Mussells from Cape Town. In 1937 he went back to Ireland and was until his death of a heart attack director of the Armagh Observatory.

Lindsay has been known less for its scientific results, as by his political influence for astronomy. For example, he convinced the Irish Government and the Harvard College Observatory to set up a telescope at Boyden Observatory in Bloemfontein, South Africa, for the cataloging of the southern sky. He also played an important role in the founding of the Armagh Planetarium.

Lindsay and his wife Sylvia had a son, Derek Michael Lindsay ( 1944). Derek was a professor of chemistry in New York City.

The lunar crater Lindsay is named after him.

Awards

• The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1963
• Member of the Royal Irish Academy, 1939