# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-henry-finlay
# Generated: 2026-09-07T20:59:00.732Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-henry-finlay"
name: "William Henry Finlay"
slug: "william-henry-finlay"
description: "William Henry Finlay (FRAS) was a South African astronomer. He was First Assistant at the Cape Observatory from 1873 to 1898 under Edward James Stone. He discovered the periodic comet 15P/Finlay. Earlier, he was one of the first to spot the \"Great Comet of 1882\". The first telegraphic determinations of longitude along the western coast of Africa were made by Finlay and T. F. Pullen."
tagline: "South African astronomer (1849–1924)"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "South Africa"
  isoCode: "ZA"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1849-06-17"
deathDate: "1924-12-07"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           37.02
  momentum:             0
  historical:           7.203204
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     45
  profileCompleteness:  55
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A8%81%E5%BB%89%C2%B7%E4%BA%A8%E5%88%A9%C2%B7%E8%8A%AC%E5%88%A9"
    title: "威廉·亨利·芬利"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%8A_%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%8A"
    title: "ويليام هنري فينلاي"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Finlay"
    title: "William Henry Finlay"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Finlay"
    title: "William Henry Finlay"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Finlay"
    title: "William Henry Finlay"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Finlay"
    title: "William Henry Finlay"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Finlay"
    title: "William Henry Finlay"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Finlay"
    title: "William Henry Finlay"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q278529"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump