Joel Hastings Metcalf (January 4, 1866 – February 23, 1925) was an American astronomer, humanitarian and minister.
[1] Reverend Metcalf graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1892.
He served as a Unitarian minister in Burlington, Vermont and in Taunton, Massachusetts, Winchester, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine.
He discovered or co-discovered several comets, including 23P/Brorsen-Metcalf and 97P/Metcalf-Brewington, and also 41 asteroids during 1905–1914, as credited by the Minor Planet Center.
[2] Two of his discoveries, the main-belt asteroids 726 Joëlla and 792 Metcalfia, were named in his honor.
"A Photographic Method for the Detection of Variability in Asteroids".