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John E. Mellish
American astronomer and telescope builder (1886–1970) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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John Edward Mellish (12 January 1886 – 13 July 1970, Medford, Oregon) was an American amateur astronomer and telescope builder.[1]
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Mellish was born in Wisconsin, the son of Arthur Mellish (1862–1928) and Judith Sedora Stimson Mellish (1864–1954).[1][2] Mellish lived outside of Madison, Wisconsin in Cottage Grove. By age 24 he was credited with discovering or co-discovering two comets: C/1907 G1 (Grigg–Mellish) and C/1907 T1 (Mellish) using home built telescopes, and received astronomical medals from both the United States and Mexico as a result.[3] He later discovered another three comets: C/1915 C1 (Mellish), C/1915 R1 (Mellish), and C/1917 F1 (Mellish).[4]
In November 1915 he announced to have observed craters on Mars, and being the second person to do so after E. E. Barnard. Both claims are disputed to this day, but he is still credited to be the first human to recognize craters on Mars using the great 40-inch Yerkes refractor.
A crater on Mars (Mellish) was named in his honor.
In 1931, Mellish confessed to committing incest with his 15-year-old daughter.[5] Astronomers advocated that he be spared jail time because of his value to science,[5][6][7] and it was proposed that he be sterilized.[8] Mellish was held in the Kane County Jail from September 1931 to April 1933, when he was paroled,[9][10] and he moved to California.[11][12] His wife divorced him in May 1933 and was given custody of their eight children.[12]
After living in Escondido, California from 1933 to 1936, Mellish relocated to a ranch at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.[13] However he returned to Escondido, where he and his son were arrested in 1938 on charges involving two juvenile girls.[14][15] Mellish died in Medford, Oregon, in 1970.[16]
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