John Evershed CIE FRS FRAS (26 February 1864 – 17 November 1956) was an English astronomer. He was the first to observe radial motions in sunspots, a phenomenon now known as the Evershed effect.

Biography Evershed was born in Gomshall, Surrey to John and Sophia (née Price) Evershed. He made the discovery which bears his name while at Kodaikanal Observatory in 1909. After retirement in 1923 he set up a private observatory at Ewhurst, Surrey and built a large spectroheliograph of special design and another with high-dispersion liquid prism. He continued to study the wave-lengths of H and K lines in prominences, giving values of the solar rotation at high levels in different latitudes and at different phases of the solar cycle. Work continued until 1950 when the observatory closed and he presented some of his instruments to the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux. In the autumn of 1890 was a founding member of the British Astronomical Association. He directed its Solar Spectroscopy Section (1893-1899) and Spectroscopic Section (1924-1926).

Awards and honours In 1894 Evershed was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, in 1918 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May, 1915. The Evershed crater on the Moon is named in his honor. He was awarded as a Companion of the Indian Empire on his retirement in 1923.

Personal life Evershed married fellow astronomer Mary Acworth Orr Evershed on 4 September 1906 at Claughton near Scarborough, Yorkshire. Following the death of his wife in 1949 he married Margaret Randall in 1950. He died in Ewhurst, Surrey on 17 November 1956. He also had interest in lepidoptera and other insects. W. H. Evans described a butterfly Thoressa evershedi in 1910 and named it after Evershed who had collected the type specimen. In 2015 his archive was acquired by the Science Museum, London.

Bibliography

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Report of his Observatory. vol. 94 (1934), p. 318 Report of his Observatory. vol. 95 (1935), p. 379 Report of his Observatory. vol. 96 (1936), p. 337 Report of his Observatory. vol. 97 (1937), p. 327 Report of his Observatory. vol. 98 (1938), p. 296 Report of his Observatory. vol. 100 (1940), p. 298 Report of his Observatory. vol. 102 (1942), p. 94 Report of his Observatory. vol. 103 (1943), p. 84 Report of his Observatory. vol. 105 (1945), p. 122 Report of his Observatory. vol. 106 (1946), p. 59 Report of his Observatory. vol. 107 (1947), p. 81 Report of his Observatory. vol. 108 (1948), p. 78 Report of his Observatory. vol. 109 (1949), p. 177 Report of his Observatory. vol. 110 (1950), p. 164 Report of his Observatory. vol. 111 (1951), p. 216

Nature The Chromosphere. vol. 37 (1887), p. 79 The Corona Spectrum. vol. 48 (1893), p. 268 A Remarkable Flight of Birds. vol. 52 (1895), p. 508 The Corona Spectrum. vol. 56 (1897), p. 444 Solar Radiation. vol. 58 (1898), p. 619 Absorption Markings in “K” Spectroheliograms. vol. 86 (1911), p. 348 Absorption Markings in “K” Spectroheliograms. vol. 87 (1911), p. 111 Butterfly Migration in Relation to Mimicry. vol. 89 (1912), p. 659 Luminous Halos surrounding Shadows of Heads. vol. 90 (1913), p. 592 The Green Flash. vol. 95 (1915), p. 286 A Question of Albedo. vol. 96 (1915), p. 369 Scarcity of Wasps in Kashmir in 1916. vol. 99 (1917), p. 185 Observations of Nova Aquilæ in India. vol. 102 (1918), p. 105 The Magnetic Storm of August 11–12, 1919. vol. 104 (1920), p. 436 Terrestrial Magnetic Disturbances and Sun-spots. vol. 108 (1921), p. 566 Optical Definition and Resolving Power. vol. 110 (1922), p. 179 The Green Flash at Sunset. vol. 111 (1923), p. 13 An Uncommon Type of Cloud. vol. 112 (1923), p. 901 Photographic Studies of Solar Prominences. 116 (1925), p. 30 Letter to Editor. vol. 116 (1925), p. 395 The ‘Green Flash’. vol. 120 (1927), p. 876

Journal of the British Astronomical Association, The Distribution of the Solar Prominence of 1891. vol. 2 (1892), p. 174 Some recent attempts to photograph the Faculae and Prominences. vol. 3 (1893), p. 269 The Cause of the Darkness of Sun Spots. vol. 7 (1897), p. 190 A New Arrangement of Prisms for a Solar Prominence Spectroscope. vol. 7 (1897), p. 331

The Observatory The Flash-Spectrum. vol. 25 (1902), p. 198 The Flash-Spectrum. vol. 25 (1902), p. 272 Sun-Spots and Magnetic Storms. vol. 27 (1904), p. 129 The Rumford Spectrograph of the Yerkes Observatory. vol. 27 (1904), p. 164 Sun-Spots and Solar Temperature. vol. 31 (1908), p. 462 Helium Absorption in the Sun. vol. 31 (1908), p. 212 Water-Vapour Lines in the Spot-Spectrum. vol. 32 (1909), p. 101 Sun-spots and the Solar Temperature. vol. 32 (1909), p. 135 Pressure in the Reversing Layer. vol. 32 (1909), p. 254 Radial Movement in Sun-spots. vol. 32 (1909), p. 291 Pressure in the Reversing Layer. vol. 32 (1909), p. Dante and Mediaeval Astronomy (with Evershed, M. A.). vol. 34 (1911), p. 440 Radium and the Chromosphere. vol. 35 (1912), p. 360 Some Problems of Astronomy (XIV The Displacement of the Lines of the Solar Spectrum Towards the Red). vol. 37 (1914), p. 124 The General Shift of Fraunhofer Lines Towards the Red. vol. 37 (1914), p. 388 Anomalous Dispersion in the Sun. vol. 39 (1916), p. 59 Large Prominences. vol. 39 (1916), p. 392 Anomalous Dispersion in the Sun. vol. 39 (1916), p. 432 The Einstein Effect and the Eclipse of 1919 May 29. vol. 40 (1917), p. 269 Day and Night "Seeing". vol. 40 (1917), p. 407 The Displacement of the Cyanogen Bands in the Solar Spectrum. vol. 41 (1918), p. 371 The Positive-on-Negative Method of Measuring Spectra. vol. 41 (1918), p. 443 The Displacement of the Solar Lines Reflected by Venus. vol. 42 (1919), p. 51 Calcium Clouds in the Milky Way. vol. 42 (191), p. 85 The Pulsation Theory of Cepheid Variables. vol. 42 (1919), p. 124 The Moon in Daylight. vol. 42 (1919), p. 339 Displacement of the Lines in the Solar Spectrum and Einstein's Prediction. vol. 43 (1920), p. 153 The Relativity Shift in the Solar Spectrum. vol. 44 (1921), p. 243 The Spectrum of Sirius. vol. 45 (1922), p. 296 The Einstein Effect in the Solar Spectrum. vol. 46 (1923), p. 299 Stationary Calcium in Space. vol. 47 (1924), p. 53 The Height of the Chromosphere. vol. 48 (1925), p. 45 The Height of the Chromosphere. vol. 48 (1925), p. 146 The Green Flash. vol. 49 (1926), p. 369 Recent Work at Arcetri (with Evershed, M. A.). vol. 55 (1932), p. 254 The Central Intensities of the Fraunhofer Lines. vol. 56 (1933), p. 275 The Problem of the Red Shift in the Solar Spectrum. vol. 60 (1937), p. 266 Obituary: George Ellery Hale. vol. 61 (1938), p. 163 Sunspots and Magnetic Storms. vol. 63 (1940), p. 47 The Magnetic Effect in Sunspot Spectra. vol. 65 (1944), p. 190 Spectrum Lines in Chromospheric Flares. vol. 68 (1948), p. 67 The Central Intensities of the Fraunhofer Lines. vol. 69 (1949), p. 109

References

External links J. Evershed @ Astrophysics Data System