JONES Harold Spencer (Jones Harold Spencer)

(1890-1960)
Born March 29, 1890 in London. He graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge University. In 1913-1922 he worked in the Greenwich Observatory. From 1923 to 1933 was director of the Cape Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope in 1933-1955 - director of the Greenwich Observatory - Royal Astronomer. From 1956 until his death he was Secretary General of the International Council of Scientific Unions.
Jones works devoted to astrometry and celestial mechanics. They studied the motion of the poles of the earth, calculated a more accurate value of the masses of Venus and the Moon, from the analysis of observations of occultation of stars by the Moon was an amendment to the elements of its orbit. Deduced a more precise value of the solar parallax from observations of the asteroid Eros, using measurements on 2847 plate, and thus specified distance from Earth to the Sun. Among the works of Jones - books Worlds without end (Worlds Without End, 1935), Picture of the Universe (A Picture of the Universe, 1947). Jones was a member of academies of sciences of many countries (National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, the Belgian, etc.), in 1937-1948 - President of the International Astronomical Union. Jones died in London on November 3, 1960.