William Herbert Steavenson (April 26 1894 – September 23 1975) was a British amateur astronomer.

He lost the vision in his right eye in a childhood accident. In September 1911, while still a schoolboy, he independently discovered the comet C/1911 S2 , but unfortunately for him he did not check his photograph quickly enough and credit went to Ferdinand Quénisset. Nevertheless, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in January 1912.

He chose medicine as his profession and became a surgeon, but pursued astronomy his entire life and was a skilled observer. He concentrated on variable stars, planets and their satellites, and comets, and also observed the remnants of old novae like Nova Persei 1901 .

From 1957–1959 he served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society, one of the few amateur astronomers to do so.

He won the Jackson-Gwilt Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1928.

External links

Obituaries

• QJRAS 18 (1977) 147
• JBAA 86 (1976) 386– 390