Edward Charles Pickering (July 19, 1846 – February 3, 1919) was an American astronomer and physicist, brother of William Henry Pickering.

Along with Carl Vogel, Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary stars. He wrote Elements of Physical Manipulations (2 vol., 1873–76).

He served as director of Harvard College Observatory, where he made great leaps forward in the gathering of stellar spectra through the use of photography. At Harvard, he recruited many women to work for him, including Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and Antonia Maury. These women, who came to be known as "Pickering's Harem" by the scientific community, made several important discoveries at HCO.

He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1886 and again in 1901, and the Bruce Medal in 1908.

A crater on the Moon is jointly named after him and his brother William Henry Pickering.

External links

Obituaries

• AN 208 (1919) 133/134 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/AN.../0208//0000075.000.html) (in German)
• JRASC 13 (1919) 160 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/JRASC/0013//0000160.000.html)
• MNRAS 80 (1920) 360 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0080//0000360.000.html)
• PASP 31 (1919) 73 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/PASP./0031//0000073.000.html)