Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Campbell, William Wallace
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1862 - 1938
History
William Wallace Campbell (April 11, 1862 – June 14, 1938) was an American astronomer renowned for his spectroscopic studies of stars and for leading eclipse expeditions. He served as the director of the Lick Observatory from 1901 to 1930, where he advanced the use of spectroscopy to measure stellar radial velocities, contributing to the understanding of stellar motions and binary systems. Campbell also directed several important solar eclipse expeditions, including the 1922 observation in Australia that provided strong confirmation of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Later, he became president of the University of California (1923–1930) and of the International Astronomical Union (1925–1935).