BURNHAM; Sherburne W.; 1838-1921; USA

Having started astronomy as an amateur, Burnham began to discover double stars with his own instrument a 15-inch refractor in 1871 and decided to compile a general catalogue in order to make his verifications of discovery more easy. Beeing hired by professionals, he prospected the future Lick observatory where, when completed, he observed with the 36-inch refractor between 1888 and 1892 (1274 double stars discovered). He published the "General Catalogue of Double Stars within 121deg. of the North Pole" in 1906 (13665 double stars). He participated in the discoveries of the NGC, IC1 and IC2 with various instruments ("Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society", "Publications of the Yerkes Observatory").