BornEdinburg, Indiana, USA, 28 June 1894
DiedMadison, Wisconsin, USA, 9 March 1981
Charles Morse Huffer helped to develop the early techniques of photoelectric photometry, conducting research on eclipsing binary stars and the reddening effect of the interstellar medium, while making important contributions to astronomy instruction in the United States.
Although Huffer’s principal contributions were in astronomy, his early interests centered in mathematics, the intellectual pursuit of two older family members. Huffer’s maternal grandfather, Frank Lyford Morse, was a professor of mathematics at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, and Huffer’s father, also named Charles, was a Presbyterian minister with his own interest in mathematics. The Huffer family moved several times in the younger Charles’s childhood, finally settling in the college town of Albion, Michigan. Huffer attended Albion College and studied mathematics there under Roscoe Sleight, who secured for Huffer a graduate...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsSelected References
Genet, R. M. (1981). “C. M. Huffer (1894–1981): Pioneer of Photoelectric Photometry.” International Amateur - Professional Photoelectric Photometry Communication no. 5: 1–3.
Hearnshaw, J. B. (1996). The Measurement of Starlight: Two Centuries of Astronomical Photometry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Huffer, C. M. (1955). “The Development of Photo-electric Photometry.” Vistas in Astronomy 1: 491–498.
Huffer, Charles. Interview by David DeVorkin, 8 July 1977. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, Maryland. (A principal source for biographical details about Huffer. A second oral history interview, by Donna Taylor in 1977, is held at the University of Wisconsin Archives, and the University of Wisconsin Department of Astronomy maintains a biographical file on Huffer.)
Stebbins, Joel, C. M. Huffer, and A. E. Whitford. (1940). “The Color of 1332 B Stars.” The Astrophysical Journal 91 (1940): 20–50. (An illustrative example of the Washburn Observatory work on selective absorption.)
Susalla, Peter, and James Lattis (2009). Wisconsin at the Frontiers of Astronomy: A History of Innovation and Exploration. Madison, Wisconsin: Legislative Reference Bureau. (Reprinted separately under the same title by the Board of Visitors of the University of Wisconsin Department of Astronomy in 2010.)
Trinklein, Frederick E., and Charles M. Huffer (1961). Modern Space Science. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Washburn Observatory Records. University Archives, Steenbock Library, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1880–1947. (A source of unpublished manuscript material about Huffer.)
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
Susalla, P.J. (2014). Huffer, Charles Morse. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9295
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9295
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