Born London, England, 18 May 1852
Died Oxford, England, 8 December 1912
English mathematician and amateur astronomer Samuel Saunder was a leading selenographer at the beginning of the twentieth century and helped create both a standard system of lunar nomenclature and an accurate system of lunar coordinates. Educated at Cambridge University as a mathematician, Saunder spent his entire career as professor of mathematics at Wellington College, Berkshire.
However, Saunder’s great passion was astronomy, especially the study of the Moon. Attracted to the problem of measuring the exact locations of the lunar features, Saunder used both a micrometer and photographic plates to determine the position of Möstig A, the Moon’s fundamental point. His measurements – to within 0.1″ – were 50 times more accurate than those any previous observer had obtained. Saunder then measured positions for over 3,000 other central lunar formations relative to Möstig A.
After the invention of the telescope, the...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Selected References
Blagg, M. A. and S. A. Saunder (1913). Collated List of Lunar Formations Named or Lettered in the Maps of Neison, Schmidt, and Mädler. Edinburgh: Neill and Co.
Saunder, S. A. (1911). “The Determination of Selenographic Positions and the Measurement of Lunar Photographs.” Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society 60, pt. 1.
Turner, H. H. (1907). “Lunar Nomenclature.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 68: 134–135.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Abbey, L.B. (2014). Saunder, Samuel Arthur. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1219
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1219
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-9916-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-9917-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics