John Russell Hind FRS FRSE LLD (12 May 1823 – 23 December 1895) was an English astronomer.

John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham, the son of lace manufacturer John Hind and Elizabeth Russell,[1] and was educated at Nottingham High School.

At age 17 he went to London to serve an apprenticeship as a civil engineer, but through the help of Charles Wheatstone he left engineering to accept a position at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich under George Biddell Airy.

[2][3] Hind remained there from 1840 to 1844, at which time he succeeded W. R. Dawes as director of the private George Bishop's Observatory.

However, civil records[7] and 19th century British astronomical magazines consistently spell his name with two "L"s. In the table of discovered asteroids, mpc links to the Minor Planet Center database for more information about the asteroid, along with the background on its name.