Paul McNally

Paul A. McNally (October 14, 1890 – March 4, 1955) was an American astronomer, scientist, and Jesuit priest. He was also a Dean of the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Early life McNally was born on October 14, 1890, in Philadelphia. He entered the Society of Jesus on August 12, 1908, and graduated from Woodstock College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1915 and a Master of Arts degree in 1917. From 1917 to 1918, McNally also served as moderator of Boston College's Fulton Debate Society and in 1919 and 1920 he taught German. McNally left BC for Fordham University, where he taught mathematics and moderated the debate society. In 1921 he obtained a Ph.D. in astronomy at Fordham. In 1923 he was ordained at Woodstock College. In 1925 he earned the Doctor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1928 he succeeded Rev. Edward C. Phillips, S.J., Ph.D. as the Observatory's director. McNally began work at Georgetown University with rather rudimentary equipment, observing occultations and searching for Herschel's fields using a 12" equatorial visual refractor. Thereafter, two 3" Ross-type astrographic cameras were added, and the focus of the Georgetown Observatory's research was on solar eclipses. McNally photographed the total eclipse at Fryeburg, Maine, in 1932, winning a commendation for that work at the annual meeting of the London Photographic Society. He participated in solar eclipse expeditions that were sponsored by the National Geographic Society in Siberia in 1936; in Canton Island in 1937; and in Patos, Brazil in 1940. That same year he was appointed the first director of the Georgetown University Medical Center.

The crater McNally on the Moon is named after him.