William Wallace Campbell

American astronomer (1862–1938)
Person human Q353818
William Wallace Campbell
Hector Macpherson · Public Domain · Wikimedia
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William Wallace Campbell was an American astronomer and university teacher born on April 11, 1862, in Hancock County [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. He died on June 14, 1938, in San Francisco [8][1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. His citizenship was the United States . His cause of death was from a fall [9].

Campbell worked in the fields of astronomy and spectroscopy [10]. His employers included the University of Michigan, the Lick Observatory, and the University of Colorado . He received numerous prestigious awards, including the Henry Draper Medal, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Lalande Prize, the Bruce Medal, the Janssen Medal, and was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society [11][12][13]. He also received one additional award beyond those listed [11][12][13].

Key Facts

  • Spouse: Elizabeth Ballard Campbell[8]
  • Country of citizenship: United States[9]
  • Field of work: astronomy[10], spectroscopy[11]
  • Employer: University of Michigan[12], Lick Observatory[13], University of Colorado[14]
  • Educated at: University of Michigan[15]
  • Award received: Henry Draper Medal[16], Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society[17], Lalande Prize[18], Bruce Medal[19], Janssen Medal[20], Foreign Member of the Royal Society[21], Silliman Memorial Lectures[22]
  • Member of: Royal Society[23], Academy of Sciences of the USSR[24], Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences[25], American Academy of Arts and Sciences[26], Russian Academy of Sciences[27], American Philosophical Society[28], International Astronomical Union[29], American Astronomical Society[30], American Association for the Advancement of Science[31], National Academy of Sciences[32], Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei[33]
  • Sex or gender: male[34]
  • Doctoral student: Joel Stebbins[35]
  • Commons category: William Wallace Campbell[36]
  • Cause of death: falling[37]
  • Family name: Campbell[38]
  • Given name: William[39], Wallace[40]
  • Manner of death: suicide[41]
  • Described by source: Svensk uppslagsbok[42], Nordisk familjebok[43], Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1969–1978)[44], Astronomers: A Biographical Reference[45]
  • Nominated for: Nobel Prize in Physics[46]
  • Languages spoken, written or signed: English[47]
  • Name in native language: William Wallace Campbell[48]
  • Different from: William Campbell[49]

Body

Works and Contributions

Things named for William Wallace Campbell include Campbell[50], an impact crater[51].

Why It Matters

William Wallace Campbell has Wikipedia articles in 19 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[52] He is known by 15 alternative names across languages and contexts.[53]

Entities named for him include Campbell[50], an impact crater[51].

His notable doctoral advisees include Joel Stebbins[54], an astronomer[55], 1878–1966[56], of United States[57], awarded the Henry Draper Medal[58].

FAQs

Where was William Wallace Campbell born?

William Wallace Campbell's place of birth was Hancock County[2].

Where did William Wallace Campbell die?

William Wallace Campbell died in San Francisco[4].

Who was William Wallace Campbell married to?

William Wallace Campbell's spouses include Elizabeth Ballard Campbell[8].

What did William Wallace Campbell do for work?

William Wallace Campbell worked as an astronomer[5] and university teacher[6].

Where did William Wallace Campbell go to school?

William Wallace Campbell was educated at University of Michigan[15].

What awards did William Wallace Campbell receive?

Honors received include Henry Draper Medal[16], Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society[17], Lalande Prize[18], and Bruce Medal[19].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1969–1978). Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  3. [34] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  4. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [10] ↑ . Czech National Authority Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  8. [11] ↑ . Czech National Authority Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  9. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [6] ↑ . Czech National Authority Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  11. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [14] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . nasonline.org. nasonline.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  15. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] ↑ . phys-astro.sonoma.edu. phys-astro.sonoma.edu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  18. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . Complete List of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007. wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [26] ↑ . amacad.org. Retrieved . amacad.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  27. [27] ↑ . isaran.ru. Retrieved . isaran.ru. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  28. [28] ↑ . NNDB. wikidata.org.
  29. [29] ↑ . NNDB. wikidata.org.
  30. [30] ↑ . NNDB. wikidata.org.
  31. [31] ↑ . NNDB. wikidata.org.
  32. [32] ↑ . nasonline.org. Retrieved . nasonline.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  33. [33] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  34. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [1] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  36. [3] ↑ . Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1969–1978). Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  37. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  38. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  39. [40] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  40. [41] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  41. [42] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  42. [43] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  43. [44] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  44. [45] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  45. [46] ↑ . nobelprize.org. wikidata.org.
  46. [47] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . data.bnf.fr. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  47. [48] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  48. [49] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [54] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [50] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [55] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [56] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [57] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [58] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  5. [51] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [7] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [52] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [53] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

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APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). William Wallace Campbell. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/william-wallace-campbell
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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 1h ago · OKA bot bot · 2026-10-18 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Wikipedia languages → ['ar', 'ca', 'ckb', 'commons', 'cs', 'de', 'en', 'es', 'eu', 'fa', 'fi', 'fr', '
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||3 */ source for place of death, source for date of birth, source for date of death from Store norske leksikon ([[Wikidata:Requests for permissi"
  2. 10w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-08-04 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Accademia nazionale dei lincei id → 394-campbell-william-w
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/45365|batch #45365]]: Update P14091 IDs"
  3. 17w ago · Pigsonthewing · 2026-06-14 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14528 → 27111
    U.s. copyright office public records system name id → William Wallace Campbell
    Unz review author id → CampbellWilliamWallace
    Nobel prize people nomination id → 1568, 1566
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ P14528: 27111, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/259666|batch #259666]]"
  4. 18w ago · PKalnai · 2026-06-08 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Given name → William, Wallace
    Place of birth → Hancock County
    Employer → University of Michigan, Lick Observatory, University of Colorado
    Described by source → Svensk uppslagsbok, Nordisk familjebok, Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1969–1978) +1
    + 31 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Scopus author id: 23082118600"
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