Article

Helen Battles Hogg-Priestley

Published Online May 26, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Making use of the major telescopes at Victoria, BC, Tucson, Ariz, and Richmond Hill, Ont, Hogg became a leading world expert in her field of specialization and has received numerous honours, including Companion of the Order of Canada.
Astronomers
Members of the U of T astronomy department in 1962 with the David Dunlap Observatory in the background: from left to right, S. Van den Bergh, Helen Hogg, D.A. MacRae, Ruth Northcott, J.D. Fernie and J.F. Head (director).

Helen Battles Hogg-Priestley

 Helen Battles Hogg-Priestley, née Sawyer, astronomer (b at Lowell, Mass 1 Aug 1905; d at Toronto 28 Jan 1993). In 1930 she married Dr. F.S. HOGG (d 1951) and in 1985 married Prof F.E.L. Priestley. She began her research in the field of globular star clusters and their variable stars in graduate school and in 1931 received a doctorate in ASTRONOMY at Radcliffe. She joined the teaching staff of the University of Toronto in 1936 and was appointed professor emeritus in 1976.

Making use of the major telescopes at Victoria, BC, Tucson, Ariz, and Richmond Hill, Ont, Hogg became a leading world expert in her field of specialization and has received numerous honours, including Companion of the Order of Canada, the Annie J. Cannon Prize of the American Astronomical Society (1949) and the Rittenhouse Silver Medal (1967). In 1985 she received the Award of Merit from the City of Toronto, and the Sandford Fleming Medal from the Royal Canadian Institute.

Well known for the clarity of her discourses in lectures and on radio or television, Hogg has published numerous scholarly articles and the popular book The Stars Belong to Everyone (1976); for 30 years she wrote a weekly column for the Toronto Star. In recognition of her contribution to the public's understanding of astronomy, she was the first Canadian to be awarded the Klumpke-Roberts Award (1983). Minor Planet No 2917 has been named Sawyer Hogg.