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William Joseph Hussey (August 10, 1862 – October 28, 1926) was an American astronomer.

 Early Life and Education 

He was born at Mendon, Ohio, August 10, 1862, son of John Milton and Mary Catherine (Severns) Hussey. He attended the Valparaiso Normal School in 1880 and completed the scientific curriculum with a specialization in education in one year. Afterward, he attended the University of Michigan to study civil engineering.

He had to stop his education his sophomore year of university due to a lack of funds. During a three year hiatus from his education he worked as a principal of the schools at Ohio Station, Illinois. During summer breaks, he did clerical work for railroad surveyors in the Northwest. He then returned to the University of Michigan to finish his civil engineering degree in 1889.

 Career 

After graduating with a BS in civil engineering from the University of Michigan in 1889, he served as assistant in the Nautical Almanac Office of Washington. He soon returned to Ann Arbor as instructor in mathematics, and became instructor in astronomy in 1891. He taught at the University of Michigan for three years. He was also the director of the Detroit Observatory during his last year teaching in Ann Arbor.

In 1892, he joined the faculty of Stanford University as an assistant professor of astronomy and eventually became a professor of astronomy. From 1896 to 1905 he was Astronomer at the Lick Observatory,

He is most famous for the discovery and study of close binary stars. In the period from 1898 to 1899, he observed all binaries discovered by Otto Struve, with at least three observations of each. His amazing efficiency is demonstrated by these numbers: he made 1,920 observations in one year, with a record of 80 in one night. At the conclusion of his double star work in 1905, he had discovered and measured 1,327 close binaries. For this work, he was awarded the Lalande Medal in 1906, which he shared with Robert Grant Aitken.

In 1897, he was elected president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The Lamont–Hussey Observatory in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa was named after him.

 Death 

A crater on Mars was named in his honor.