James Rainwater
James Rainwater (born December 9, 1917, Council, United States; died 1986), was an American physicist. Rainwater's honours include Nobel Prize in Physics, IEEE Fellow and Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award.
James Rainwater’s zodiac sign was Sagittarius, Chinese zodiac was Fire Snake, with Life Path 3 in numerology.
Sagittarius, Chinese zodiac was 
Fire Snake, with 
Life Path 3 in numerology.Your match with James
James Rainwater’s AsterNym identity
The Evergreen Healer
Wood represents growth. Wood-led charts are associated with patience, adaptability and the drive to keep developing. Life Path 3 represents expression: words, art, humour and making inner experience visible.
Wood Day Master (BaZi) × mutable Sun × Life Path 3, on the emotional plane.
How common is the name James in the U.S.?
#6
US rank in 2025
~5,274,520
Americans share it since 1880
1947
its peak year
Of the names registered in 1917, James came 3rd among boys and 486th among girls, carried by 37,337 American boys and 182 girls.
US Social Security Administration public records
What James’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
4
Expression · building what holds
4
Soul Urge · solid ground
9
Personality · generous, worldly
The name opens on J (1) and closes on S (1). The value it repeats most is 1, which numerology reads as drive.
Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again
James’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.
Lucky numbers
3 · 2 · 8 · 9
Lucky colours
Red & Orange
Lucky day
Thursday
Direction
↓ South
Season
summer
Stones
Turquoise, Yellow Sapphire, Carnelian
Flower constellation
🤍 Narcissus · 🌸 Peony · 🌺 Poppy
Frost white · Rose-gold · Flame orange
Eight Mansions · Kua number
Kua 1, trigram Kan 坎, East group. Best direction Southeast, worst West.
A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1917, which turns at Li Chun rather than at New Year, and from sex, which Wikidata records as male. Work out your own →
The record
What sets James apart
James Rainwater took the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award in 1963, at 46.
The classrooms behind this chart: California Institute of Technology and Columbia University.
The encyclopaedia's own shelving for James Rainwater: People from Council, Idaho, Fellows of the IEEE and American nuclear physicists.
Grace Hopper (1906) and Simon Helberg (1980) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.
- Educated at
- California Institute of Technology and Columbia University
- Awards
- Nobel Prize in Physics (1975) and Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award (1963)
- Citizenship
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Wikipedia editions
- 65
What the chart says
James, according to the stars
Core essence
James is the friend who says "let's just go" and means today. The core of James is faith that the world is bigger and better than the room they are in, and a restlessness to go and check. They are honest to the point of it being a sport, funny by accident, and impossible to keep small. Freedom is not a preference, it is oxygen.
The vibe
Underneath, James cannot fully relax while anyone in the room is unhappy. The Moon in Libra feels through harmony and hates conflict in their own house. What James needs to feel safe is fairness, softness and a partner in the small decisions. They are at their best when someone else picks the restaurant and they get to enjoy it.
How James wants to be loved
James wants to be loved as a friend first, and then as everything. Venus in Aquarius needs freedom, conversation and a partner who finds their strangeness delightful. Rules and jealousy make them cold; acceptance makes them devoted. Let James be fully themselves and they will never want to be anywhere else.
How James creates
How James makes things happen: they find the gap and grow through it. A Yin Wood day master is the vine, flexible, quietly relentless, better at working around a wall than at knocking it down. James creates by adapting, by connecting people, by making the awkward thing fit. Underestimate them and you will look up one day to find them everywhere.
Instinct
Instinct: James is wise and watchful, a Snake year, and their gut reaction is to observe before moving. Elegant, intuitive, private, and usually right about people long before saying so. The Fire year turns the volume up: warmer, bolder, more expressive, harder to overlook.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 3 is the creative. James is here to express, to make, to say the thing in a way nobody has said it before. Joy is the work: the writing, the performing, the making people laugh. The lesson is finishing what the spark started.
Triggers
Triggers: sloppiness, and being told they are overthinking it. Mars in Virgo means James channels energy into fixing, sorting, getting it right, and gets sharp when others do not care. The critic turns inward first. Give them a problem worth solving and watch them come alive.
Computed from James's birth date. Working below.
Where James sits
Six lines
James’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.
You likely balance a tight inner circle with a wider orbit you dip into.
You may leap first and adjust as you go. Waiting can feel like losing momentum.
You may wear your feelings openly. What you feel tends to show.
You may want to resolve tension the moment it appears, rather than let it sit.
You likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.
You may feel connection fast. Chemistry can arrive before the details do.
Tap each line where you sit.
All twelve of yours, from your birth date →✦ A real star from their birth night
Dedicate a star to James Rainwater
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Council on the night they were born. Choose the story that connects you.
A 9 p.m. reference sky, not the birth minute. Dedications are commemorative and confer no ownership of stars.
The sky over Council that night
Computed for 44.73°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
At 9 p.m. the star closest to straight overhead at Council was Almach, in Andromeda, 84.1° up.
The brightest star above the horizon was Sirius in Canis Major, and 104 catalog stars were up in all.
From 44.7°N, Capella and Deneb never go below the horizon: they are circumpolar at this latitude.
Nothing below −45.3° declination clears the horizon at this latitude, so Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman were never visible from Council on any night.
Sun 51° below the horizon, Moon down and 18% lit at waning crescent.
The name and the places
- Born in
- Council, United States
The death is recorded at New York City, New York in 1986.
No birth time is on record, so no astrocartography map can be drawn for James Rainwater: the lines move about fifteen degrees of longitude an hour. Shared Places can still draw yours.
How unusual James's chart is
Chart pattern score
34 / 100 · Quietly distinctive
Yod onto Mercury
An AsterNym index built from stelliums, yods, grand crosses and chart shape. It is not a population percentile, and a high score is not a better chart. Without a birth time the houses are left out of it.
Score your own chart →If you only read one paragraph
Sagittarius Sun
Sagittarius SunBlunt, cheerful, gone by morning.
James Rainwater's Sun was in Sagittarius for the whole of December 9, 1917, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Sagittarius means →Fire Snake
Fire SnakeSays less than it knows.
James Rainwater was born on December 9, 1917, which falls in a Fire Snake year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Snake means →Life Path 3
Life Path 3Makes feelings into something.
James Rainwater's birth date, December 9, 1917, reduces to Life Path 3 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 3 means →What stands out in James’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in James Rainwater's date-only chart is Venus trine Jupiter, with an orb of under 1°.
- Four planets were retrograde on the birth date: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto.
- James Rainwater combines a Wood Day Master in BaZi with a mutable Sun and a Life Path on the emotional plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Evergreen Healer.
James’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 16° to 29° Libra depending on the hour.
No birth time, so the houses are a solar chart: the Sun’s sign counts as house 1.
Placements
Tap one to light it on the wheel.
The working: aspects, Chiron and the asteroids, dominant planets and configurationsshow
Aspects across every possible birth time
stableMercuryoppositionPluto0.3° to 1.7° orb
James’s mind pulls against their depths from across the wheel. A see-saw looking for balance, often played out through other people.
stableVenustrineJupiter0.4° to 1.4° orb
James’s affections flow straight into their growth.
stableSunsquareMars1.1° to 1.7° orb
James’s core identity grinds against their drive.
stableJupitersextileNeptune1.8° to 1.9° orb
stableSuntrineSaturn2.3° to 3.4° orb
stableVenusoppositionNeptune2.3° to 3.2° orb
stableSunsextileUranus2.8° to 3.8° orb
stableSaturnoppositionUranus6.1° orb
stableSaturnconjunctionNeptune7.5° orb
possibleSunsextileMoonorb from 0.0° to 11.3° depending on birth time
possibleMoontrineUranusorb from 0.1° to 8.5° depending on birth time
possibleMoonsextileSaturnorb from 2.4° to 14.7° depending on birth time
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire3 of 10
- Earth2 of 10
- Air4 of 10
- Water1 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal3 of 10
- Fixed4 of 10
- Mutable3 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign: Air leads this chart.
James’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironPisces 25°25′
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ CeresScorpio 28°34′ (moves 0.42° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosCapricorn 25°08′ (moves 0.57° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ HygieaAquarius 13°31′ (moves 0.31° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithVirgo 14°17′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Hygiea opposition Saturn 0.8°
- Black Moon Lilith square Sun 2.9°
James’s dominant planets
1. ♃ Jupiter6 pts
rules the Sun sign, Sagittarius; disposes Sun; 2 major aspects
2. ☉ Sun5 pts
disposes Saturn, Neptune; 3 major aspects
3. ♅ Uranus5 pts
in its own sign, Aquarius; disposes Venus; 2 major aspects
Configurations in James’s chart
Yod onto Mercury · Jupiter, Neptune, MercuryTwo planets in sextile, both quincunx a third. Astrologers call it the finger of fate and read the apex as an adjustment the chart keeps returning to.
Minor aspects
semi-sextile, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.
- Jupiter semi-sextile Pluto 0.2°
- Mercury semi-square Uranus 0.4°
- Venus sesquiquadrate Mars 0.5°
- Uranus sesquiquadrate Pluto 0.6°
- Venus quincunx Pluto 0.7°
- Mercury quincunx Jupiter 0.8°
- Mercury quincunx Neptune 1.0°
- Mercury semi-sextile Venus 1.7°
- Sun semi-square Venus 1.9°
- Mars quincunx Uranus 1.9°
More people like James
Other physicists
Born in United States
- Arthur KornbergAmerican biochemist
- June AllysonAmerican actress
- Murray KemptonAmerican journalist
- Katharine GrahamAmerican publisher, editor and author
- Julian Seymour SchwingerAmerican theoretical physicist
- Arthur M. SchlesingerAmerican historian, social critic, and public intellectual
More charts like James’s
Fellow Sagittarius suns
- Katherine SchwarzeneggerAmerican writer (born 1989)
- Chrissy TeigenAmerican model
- Mary Elizabeth WinsteadAmerican actress (born 1984)
Born in Snake years
- Gabriel MartinelliBrazilian footballer (born 2001)
- Alexander PrassAustrian association football player
- Mo AbualnadiJordanian footballer
Also born on December 9
- Grace Hopper1906
- Simon Helberg1980
- Shin Yu-na2003
- Ni-Ki2005
- Judi Dench1934
- Kara DioGuardi1970
Fellow Yin Wood day masters
- David KertzerAmerican historian and anthropologist
- Karl ShapiroAmerican poet and essayist
- Bill DedmanAmerican journalist
Other Sagittarius Snake charts
- Facundo PellistriUruguayan association football player
- Omar RekikDutch-Tunisian association football player
- Andru PhillipsAmerican football player
- Jahdae BarronAmerican football player (born 2001)
Other Evergreen Healers
- Trey AlexanderAmerican basketball player (born 2003)
- Koa PeatAmerican basketball player (born 2007)
- Leonid MikhelsonRussian businessman
- Finn RausingSwedish businessman
Famous people with Life Path 3
- Rachel ReillyAmerican television personality
- Busy PhilippsAmerican actress
- Brad PaisleyAmerican country musician (born 1972)
From the journal: Your animal plus your element: the 60-year cycle · Flying Star feng shui: the one that changes with time
James’s cards
Computed from December 9, 1917. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
The WorldAsterNym identity card
The Evergreen HealerWestern zodiac
SagittariusChinese zodiac
Snake 巳Life Path
3 · Storyteller♃ Ruled by Jupiter
Tin Sn
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yin Wood.
Year
丁
yin Fire
巳
Snake
Fire
roots & early life
Month
壬
yang Water
子
Rat
Water
work & drive
Day
day master
乙
yin Wood
酉
Rooster
Metal
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
James’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q190745 (CC0), as do the occupations, works and awards above. With no documented birth time this chart is rated X on the Rodden scale, the astrological convention for how well evidenced a birth time is. The banner above lists what that leaves out. Entries are matched to Wikidata by entity id rather than by name, kept at day precision, and dropped where sources disagree on the date.
Tropical zodiac, whole-sign houses, modern rulers. Aspects on the western_v1 orb policy; minor ones at 1.5° to 2.5°, skipped where a major already holds. Minor bodies from JPL Horizons heliocentric vectors, Lilith as mean apogee. Dominance is an AsterNym score — rulerships, dispositors, aspect count — so other methods can name a different leader.
Portrait by Keystone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same James Rainwater at Wikipedia.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by James Rainwater.
Quick answers about James Rainwater’s chart
- What zodiac sign was James Rainwater?
- James Rainwater was a Sagittarius: born December 9, 1917, which puts the Sun in Sagittarius for the whole of that day.
- What was James Rainwater's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Snake, with the Fire element, from the Chinese lunar year of the December 9, 1917 birth.
- What was James Rainwater's Life Path number?
- Life Path 3, calculated in numerology.
- What was James Rainwater's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Pisces at 25°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where was James Rainwater's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Virgo at 14°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What was James Rainwater's dominant planet?
- Jupiter, on AsterNym's dominance score (6 points: rules the Sun sign, Sagittarius; disposes Sun; 2 major aspects). Sun is second and Uranus third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
