Abstract
THE tragic death of Mr. Merfield as the result of a motor accident occurred on Jan. 23, 1931, but it did not become known in England until later. He was a very zealous and active worker, and undertook a large number of extensive astronomical computations. In his early career he was a surveying engineer, but even then he computed the orbits of comets in his spare time; the orbits of comets 1897 I, 1901 I, etc., were published in Astronomische, Nachrichten. The last was a very bright southern comet; Mr. Merfield's elements, which indicate a period of 39,000 years, are accepted as definitive.
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Mr. C. J. Merfield. Nature 129, 228 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129228a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129228a0