DOCSLIB.ORG

Honors and Awards Schmidt Wins Kavli Prize

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Honors and Awards Schmidt Wins Kavli Prize Maarten Schmidt (left) and Donald Lynden-Bell (center) receive the Kavli Prize from Crown Prince Haakon Mag- nus in Stockholm. FACULTY FILE SCHMIDT WINS must be emitting hundreds of times HONORS AND more energy than the 10 billion stars KAVLI PRIZE of the Milky Way. Later, researchers AWARDS Maarten Schmidt, the Moseley learned that this glut of energy spews R&D magazine has honored the work Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, from a volume of space no larger than of Liepmann Professor of Aeronau- has been awarded the $1 million the size of our own solar system. It tics and professor of bioengineering Kavli Prize for his contributions in was Lynden-Bell who suggested that Morteza Gharib (PhD ’83) and his astrophysics. He is one of the seven a supermassive black hole feasting team, including Emilio Graff (PhD first recipients of the prize, and shares on matter at the center of distant ’07) and postdoctoral fellow Francis- the astrophysics award with Donald galaxies was generating the prodi- co Pereira with the R&D 100 Award. Lynden-Bell, of Cambridge Univer- gious amounts of energy. And after The group designed a camera that sity, who was a Caltech postdoc from studying the evolution and distribution creates a three-dimensional image by 1961 to 1962. of quasars, Schmidt discovered that extracting information from a series Schmidt and Lynden-Bell are quasars were more abundant when of images. The researchers say the known for discovering that quasars the universe was younger. camera has a myriad of applications, are galaxies harboring supermas- “I’m delighted with the award. It is including underwater surveillance, sive black holes billions of light-years in particular a most pleasant surprise analyzing a person’s gait, and assist- away—and not stars in our own gal- after so many years,” Schmidt says. ing surgeries. The award recognizes axy, as was once believed. The Kavli “After all, it’s been 45 years since I 100 of the most significant, commer- Astrophysics Prize Committee said, found the red shift in quasar 3C273.” cialized technologies from the past “Maarten Schmidt and Donald Lyn- Schmidt was the executive officer year. den-Bell’s seminal work dramatically for astronomy at Caltech from 1972 Julia Greer, assistant profes- expanded the scale of the observable to 1975 and chaired the Division of sor of materials science, has been universe and led to our present view Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy recognized by Technology Review of the violent universe in which mas- for the following three years; he then magazine as one of the world’s top sive black holes play a key role.” served as the last director of the Hale innovators under the age of 35 for her In 1963, using the 200-inch Hale Observatories from 1978 to 1980. work with materials on a nanoscale Telescope on Palomar Mountain, Despite being named an emeritus level. Selected from more than 300 Schmidt studied the visible-light professor 12 years ago, he has nominees by a panel of expert judges spectrum of quasar 3C273. He continued his research, studying ever- and the editorial staff of Technology discovered that its spectrum was more-distant quasars and peering Review, the TR35 is an elite group shifted toward longer wavelengths, a farther into the universe’s past. of accomplished, young innovators. phenomenon called the Doppler ef- The other Kavli Prize recipients are —JW fect, in which the emitted light from a being recognized for contributions source depends on its motion relative in nanoscience and neuroscience. to the observer. Called a redshift, this The prize was established through a difference in wavelength meant the partnership between the Norwegian quasar was speeding away from Earth Academy of Science and Letters, the at 47,000 kilometers per second. Kavli Foundation, and the Norwegian Looking at the spectrum of another Ministry of Education and Research, quasar, the astronomers found it was and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign sprinting away at twice the speed Affairs. The winners received the of 3C273. Schmidt calculated that prizes at an award ceremony in Oslo these objects lay beyond our galaxy, on September 9. —EN and he immediately realized that they Fall 2008 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE 43 OBITUARY NEW DIVISION PHILIP G. dock Professor of Biology and Nobel Laureate Max Delbrück. Delbrück was CHAIRS SAFFMAN studying the diffusion of protein and Andrew Lange, the Goldberger Pro- 1931-2008 lipid molecules in biological mem- fessor of Physics, has been tapped branes, and he would walk around as the new chair of the Division of Philip Geoffrey Saffman, an influential the corner to Saffman’s house for Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. teacher and noted researcher in fluid ideas. In 1975, the two scientists from Lange has been at Caltech since mechanics, died peacefully after a disparate fields published a paper, 1994, developing experiments to long illness on Sunday, August 17, in “Brownian Motion in Biological Mem- study the early universe. Pasadena. He was 77 years old. branes,” that remains well cited today. Richard Murray (BS ’85), the Saffman, the Theodore von Kármán Born in Leeds, England, Saffman Everhart Professor of Control and Professor of Applied Mathematics received his BA, MA, and PhD from Dynamical Systems and director of and Aeronautics, Emeritus, studied the University of Cambridge. In 1964 Information Science and Technol- vortex instability and the dynamics he accepted Caltech’s appointment ogy, is now the interim chair of the of arrays of vortices. In particular, he as a full professor in fluid mechanics Division of Engineering and Applied looked into the phenomenon of vis- within the Division of Engineering and Science. Having served as the chair cous fingering, which became known Applied Science. He was named von from 2000 to 2005, Murray will hold as the Saffman–Taylor instability. This Kármán Professor in 1995. the position until the next division occurs when a low-viscosity fluid is He was a Fellow of the American chair is found. injected into a higher-viscosity fluid. Academy of Arts and Sciences and His work with vortices also led him in 1988 was elected a Fellow of the to a new mathematical analysis of the Royal Society, England’s premiere wake turbulence caused by jets as scientific organization. He also re- they take off, resulting in a theory de- ceived the Otto Laporte Award from scribing the conditions behind several the American Physical Society. aircraft accidents. Saffman served as associate editor “Saffman was one of the leading for both the Journal of Fluid Mechan- figures in modern fluid mechanics,” ics and Physical Review Letters and said Dan Meiron, the Jones Profes- was most recently an editorial board sor of Applied and Computational member for the journal Studies in Ap- Mathematics and Computer Science. plied Mathematics. “His research had an impact in almost Saffman is survived by his wife, every part of the field.” A prolific Ruth; children Louise, Mark, and scholar with a dry sense of humor, Emma; and grandchildren Timothy, he was able to focus on the essence Gregory, Rae (née Sarah), Jenny, of a problem and explain its complex Nadine, Aaron, Miriam, and Alexandra. results in a simple way, Meiron said. —JW Saffman even formed an unlikely collaboration with his neighbor, Rud- 44 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE Fall 2008 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Velocity Structure of the Orion a Integral Shaped Filament (La Estructura De La Velocidad Del Filamento Integral Shaped Filament De Orion´ A)
    Universidad de Concepcion´ Departamento de Astronom´ıa Facultad de Ciencias F´ısicas y Matematicas´ Velocity structure of the Orion A Integral Shaped Filament (La estructura de la velocidad del filamento Integral Shaped Filament de Orion´ A) Tesis para ser presentada en la direccion´ de postgrado de la Universidad de Concepcion´ para optar al grado de Magister en ciencias con mencion´ en f´ısica Valentina Isabel Gonzalez´ Lobos Asesor: Prof. Amelia Stutz Concepcion,´ Chile Junio 2019 Agradecimientos Quiero agradecer todes quienes que me apoyaron durante todo este periodo. A quienes lo hicieron desde el comienzo y a quienes llegaron durante el camino. A mis amigues y compa~neresque hicieron del proceso m´asalegre. A mi pololo y familia que me levantaron cuando lo necesit´e.A aquellos profesores que mostraron su apoyo y me hicieron creer m´asen mi misma. Finalmente, agradezco a Dominik Schleicher, al programa Basal y a CONICYT por el apoyo econ´omico. ii Resumen El proceso de formaci´onestelar es fundamental para comprender la formaci´onde planetas y la evoluci´onde galaxias. Casi todas las estrellas se forman en c´umulos estelares que son contenidos en filamentos masivos. Aqu´ıpresentamos un an´alisisde la cinem´aticadel gas del filamento Inte- gral Shaped Filament en Ori´onA utilizando observaciones de distintas transiciones moleculares 12 13 + ( CO, CO, NH3,N2H ) para rastrear el gas a distintas densidades. Describimos la estructura de la velocidad a lo largo del filamento a trav´esde diagramas de posici´on-velocidad ponderado por la intensidad o lo comparamos con la distribuci´onde la masa del gas y las estrellas.
    [Show full text]
  • General Disclaimer One Or More of the Following Statements May Affect
    General Disclaimer One or more of the Following Statements may affect this Document This document has been reproduced from the best copy furnished by the organizational source. It is being released in the interest of making available as much information as possible. This document may contain data, which exceeds the sheet parameters. It was furnished in this condition by the organizational source and is the best copy available. This document may contain tone-on-tone or color graphs, charts and/or pictures, which have been reproduced in black and white. This document is paginated as submitted by the original source. Portions of this document are not fully legible due to the historical nature of some of the material. However, it is the best reproduction available from the original submission. Produced by the NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI) r 40^4 ^I I d 9 , GPL' , 1TIONAL-WAVE BURSTS FROM THE NUCLEI OF DISTANT GALAXLFS AND QUASARS: *+ PRGPOSAL FOR DETECTION USING DOPPLER TRACKING OF INTERPLANETARY SPACECRAFT KIP S. THORNE Californi,% Ints_itute of Technology, Pasadena, California, U.S.A. and VLADIMIR B. BRAGINSKY 1 1 hystcs Faculty, Moscow State University, Moscow, U.S.S.R. (NASA-CR-145432) GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE BURSTS N76-10977 FROM THE NUCLEI OF DISTANT GALLXIES AND QUASARS: PROPOSAL FOR DETECTION USING 6 J^ DOPPLER TRACKING OF INTERPLANETARY Unclas SPACFCRAFT (California Inst. of Tech.) 17 p G3/93 39447 R p v19 5 Nq4 41 Supported in part by the Ministry of Higher Education, U.S.S.R.; and by the National Aeronau and Space Administration [NCR-05-002-2561 and the National Science Foundation [MPS75-013981, U.S.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Molecular Clouds in the Milky Way
    AA53CH15-Heyer ARI 27 July 2015 8:17 Molecular Clouds in the Milky Way Mark Heyer1 and T.M. Dame2 1Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003; email: [email protected] 2Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 2015. 53:583–629 Keywords The Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics is Galaxy: disk, structure; ISM: clouds, kinematics and dynamics, molecules; online at astro.annualreviews.org radio lines: ISM This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev-astro-082214-122324 Abstract Copyright c 2015 by Annual Reviews. In the past twenty years, the reconnaissance of 12CO and 13CO emission All rights reserved in the Milky Way by single-dish millimeter-wave telescopes has expanded our view and understanding of interstellar molecular gas. We enumerate the major surveys of CO emission along the Galactic plane and summarize the various approaches that leverage these data to determine the large-scale distribution of molecular gas: its radial and vertical distributions, its concen- tration into clouds, and its relationship to spiral structure. The integrated Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 2015.53:583-629. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org properties of molecular clouds are compiled from catalogs derived from the CO surveys using uniform assumptions regarding the Galactic rotation Access provided by State University of New York - Stony Brook on 08/28/17. For personal use only. curve, solar radius, and the CO-to-H2 conversion factor. We discuss the ra- dial variations of cloud surface brightness, the distributions of cloud mass and size, and scaling relations between velocity dispersion, cloud size, and surface density that affirm that the larger clouds are gravitationally bound.
    [Show full text]
  • Ay 21 - Galaxies and Cosmology Prof
    Ay 21 - Galaxies and Cosmology Prof. S. G. Djorgovski Winter 2021 Cosmology* as a Science • A study of the universe as a whole, its global geometry, dynamics, history, fate, and its major constituents - galaxies and large-scale structures, their formation and evolution • A basic assumption: the physical laws are the same at all times and everywhere – Some aspects of this are testable – But a new and unexpected physics can show up, e.g., dark matter, dark energy • Only one object of study, and all we can do is look at the surface of the past light cone • Observations tend to be difficult, and subject to biases and selection effects * From Greek kosmos = order; see also cosmetology … The Evolution of the Cosmological Thought … From magical and arbitrary to rational and scientific Folklore to theology to philosophy to physics … Away from anthropocentric/anthropomorphic The Copernican revolution … From final and static to evolving and open-ended The Darwinian revolution … From absolute certainty to an ever expanding sphere of knowledge and a boundary of unknown Cosmology today is a branch of physics Dust Off Your Astronomical Units! • Distance: – Astronomical unit: the distance from the Earth to the Sun, 1 au = 1.496Í1013 cm – Light year: c Í1 yr, 1 ly = 9.463 Í1017 cm – Parsec: the distance from which 1 au subtends an angle of 1 arcsec, 1 pc = 3.086 Í1018 cm = 3.26 ly = 206,264.8 au • Mass and Luminosity: 33 – Solar mass: 1 M = 1.989 Í10 g 33 – Solar luminosity: 1 L = 3.826Í10 erg/s Fluxes and Magnitudes For historical reasons, fluxes in the optical and IR are measured in magnitudes: m = −2.5log10 F + constant Usually integrated over some finite bandpass, e.g., V band (l ~ 550 nm): € fl mV = −2.5log10 F + constant flux integrated over the range l of wavelengths for this band € If the flux is integrated over the entire spectrum, then m is the bolometric magnitude.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with Maarten Schmidt
    MAARTEN SCHMIDT (b. 1929) INTERVIEWED BY TIMOTHY D. MOY January 21 & February 5, 1992 Maarten, Schmidt, 1991 ARCHIVES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California Preface to the Keck Series Interviews The interview of Maarten Schmidt (1992) was done as part of a series of 7 oral histories conducted by the Caltech Archives between 1991 and 1992 to document the early history and development of the W. M. Keck Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. They capture the observations and perspectives of administrators, astronomers, designers, and managers representing both Caltech and the University of California, who would jointly manage the project. Thanks to the support of Howard B. Keck, in 1985 the W. M. Keck Foundation donated $70 million for what would become known as Keck I. Construction began in September 1985 to build a telescope equipped with a 10-meter mirror consisting of 36 hexagonal segments that would work together to form one single reflective surface. Using only 9 of the segments, first light occurred in November 1990. By 1991, a further Keck Foundation donation made it possible to begin http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Schmidt_M_Keck construction of Keck II—also with a 10-meter segmented mirror—with first light occurring in October 1996. Subject area Physics, astronomy, Keck Observatory Abstract An interview in two sessions, January and February 1992, with Maarten Schmidt, Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy (PMA). He recalls being brought into plans for a 10-meter telescope in 1978-1979 as director of the Hale Observatories, by Robert Sinsheimer, chancellor of UC Santa Cruz.
    [Show full text]
  • The Kavli Prize Laureate Lecture
    The Kavli Prize Laureate Lecture 24 April 2013, 17:00 – 20:00 The Nordic Embassies in Berlin, Rauchstraße 1, 10787 Berlin-Tiergarten In co-operation with: Berlinffff The Kavli Prize is a partnership between The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation and The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research Programme: 16:30 Registration Please be seated by 16:55 17:00 Welcome Sven E. Svedman, Norwegian Ambassador to Germany 17:05 ”The Kavli Prize: fostering scientific excellence and international cooperation” Ms Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian Minister of Education and Research 17:20 „Internationale Herausforderungen – internationale Kooperationen: Der Auftrag der Wissenschaft“ Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka, Federal Minister of Education and Research 17:35 Short remarks Prof. Dr. Herbert Jäckle, Vice President of the Max Planck Society 17:40 Short remarks Professor Kirsti Strøm Bull President of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters 17:45 Lecture: “Following the Brain’s Wires” Kavli Prize Laureate Prof. Dr. Winfried Denk Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg 18:10 Lecture: “Towards an Understanding of Neural Codes” Prof. Dr. Gilles Laurent Director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt 18:35 Reception Exhibition Hall of the Nordic Embassies in Berlin “Following the Brain’s Wires” Kavli Prize Laureate Prof. Dr. Winfried Denk To understand neural circuits we need to know how neurons are connected. Over the past decade we have developed methods that allow the reconstruction of neural wiring diagrams via the acquisition and analysis of high-resolution three-dimensional electron microscopic data. We have applied these methods to the retina in order to explore, for example, how direction-selective signals are computed.
    [Show full text]
  • Science on All Scales
    NEWS & VIEWS chosen collective coordinate of the atomic towards a potentially fruitful interplay of References cloud replaces the position of the end- cold-atom physics with concepts known in 1. Höhberger-Metzger, C. & Karrai, K. Nature 432, 1002–1005 (2004). 2. Gigan, S. et al. Nature 444, 67–70 (2006). mirror in the standard set-up. One of the nano- and optomechanics. Exciting avenues 3. Arcizet, O., Cohadon, P. F., Briant, T., Pinard, M. & Heidmann, A. benefits provided by this scheme is that to be explored are the role of interatomic Nature 444, 71–74 (2006). there is no need to work hard to get to the interactions (giving rise to truly collective 4. Kleckner, D. & Bouwmeester, D. Nature 444, 75–78 (2006). 5. Schliesser, A., Del’Haye, P., Nooshi, N., Vahala, K. J. ground state. In fact, in the direction along modes) and the combination with atom- & Kippenberg, T. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 243905 (2006). the cavity axis, the vibrational motion of chip techniques. 6. Corbitt, T. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 150802 (2007). the atoms is already in the ground state, Different as the two approaches9,10 may 7. Thompson, J. D. et al. Nature 452, 72–75 (2008). 8. Schwab, K. C. & Roukes, M. L. Phys. Today 36–42 (July 2005). at microkelvin temperatures. The atoms’ be, they illustrate the rapid pace of progress 9. Regal, C. A., Teufel, J. D. & Lehnert, K. W. Nature Phys. vibrations have a rather low quality factor, in the young field of optomechanics. 4, 555–560 (2008). but this is actually useful for observing Breakthroughs such as cooling of massive 10.
    [Show full text]
  • Not Yet Imagined: a Study of Hubble Space Telescope Operations
    NOT YET IMAGINED A STUDY OF HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OPERATIONS CHRISTOPHER GAINOR NOT YET IMAGINED NOT YET IMAGINED A STUDY OF HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OPERATIONS CHRISTOPHER GAINOR National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Communications NASA History Division Washington, DC 20546 NASA SP-2020-4237 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Gainor, Christopher, author. | United States. NASA History Program Office, publisher. Title: Not Yet Imagined : A study of Hubble Space Telescope Operations / Christopher Gainor. Description: Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Communications, NASA History Division, [2020] | Series: NASA history series ; sp-2020-4237 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Dr. Christopher Gainor’s Not Yet Imagined documents the history of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) from launch in 1990 through 2020. This is considered a follow-on book to Robert W. Smith’s The Space Telescope: A Study of NASA, Science, Technology, and Politics, which recorded the development history of HST. Dr. Gainor’s book will be suitable for a general audience, while also being scholarly. Highly visible interactions among the general public, astronomers, engineers, govern- ment officials, and members of Congress about HST’s servicing missions by Space Shuttle crews is a central theme of this history book. Beyond the glare of public attention, the evolution of HST becoming a model of supranational cooperation amongst scientists is a second central theme. Third, the decision-making behind the changes in Hubble’s instrument packages on servicing missions is chronicled, along with HST’s contributions to our knowledge about our solar system, our galaxy, and our universe.
    [Show full text]
  • Wallace L. W. Sargent 1935–2012
    Wallace L. W. Sargent 1935–2012 A Biographical Memoir by Charles C. Steidel ©2021 National Academy of Sciences. Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. WALLACE L. W. SARGENT February 15, 1935-October 29, 2012 Elected to the NAS, 2005 Wallace L. W. Sargent was the Ira S. Bowen Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the astronomy faculty for 46 years, beginning in 1966. By any measure, Sargent— known to colleagues and friends as “Wal”—was one of the most influential and consistently productive observa- tional astronomers of the last 50 years. His impact on the field of astrophysics spanned a remarkably wide range of topics and was seminal in more than a few: the primor- dial helium abundance, young galaxies, galaxy dynamics, supermassive black holes, active galactic nuclei (AGN), Technology. Institute of Photography by California and, particularly, the intergalactic medium (IGM). Wal was 77 at the time of his death in 2012; he had maintained a full complement of teaching and research until just weeks By Charles C. Steidel before succumbing to an illness he had borne quietly for more than 15 years. Generations of students, postdocs, and colleagues benefited from Wal’s rare combination of scientific taste and intuition, intellectual interests extending far beyond science, irreverent sense of humor, and genuine concern about the well-being of younger scientists. Education and Early Influences Wal was born in 1935 in Elsham, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom—a small village roughly equidistant from Sheffield and Leeds in West Lincolnshire—into a working-class family.
    [Show full text]
  • Maarten Schmidt (1929 – )
    MAARTEN SCHMIDT (1929 – ) INTERVIEWED BY SHIRLEY K. COHEN April 11 and May 2 & 15, 1996 Photo by Robert Paz, 1999 ARCHIVES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California Subject area Astronomy Abstract An interview in three sessions in April and May of 1996 with Maarten Schmidt, Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy, emeritus, in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy. He recalls growing up in Groningen, Holland, during German occupation in World War II; his early education and friendship with Jan Borgman, with whom he built a telescope; photographing the solar eclipse of July 9, 1945. Matriculation at Groningen University in 1946. At an astronomy conference in 1949, Jan Oort asks him to become an assistant at Leiden Observatory. Graduate study at Leiden, where he works with Oort on the brightness of comets. Recalls his time in Kenya, August 1950 to December 1951, making measurements of declination on the equator with G. van Herk. Comments on 1951 discovery of 21-centimeter line and his radio observations of galactic structure with Oort and Henk van de Hulst. PhD from Leiden in 1956; thesis on the distribution of mass in Milky Way galaxy. Comes to Mount Wilson Observatory on a two-year Carnegie Fellowship. Returns to Leiden in 1958; back to Pasadena a year later, as an associate professor at Caltech, where he works in early 1960s on exchange between stars and galactic gas, and on size, mass distribution and rotation of Milky Way galaxy. At Palomar in early 1960s— working with radio astronomer Tom Matthews, who was at Owens Valley—he http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Schmidt_M takes spectra of optical objects identified with radio sources, which leads to the discovery of quasars.
    [Show full text]
  • Geoff-Burbidge-History
    ANRV320-AA45-01 ARI 12 August 2007 11:6 Access provided by 86.180.70.91 on 05/06/20. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 2007.45:1-41. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org ANRV320-AA45-01 ARI 12 August 2007 11:6 An Accidental Career Geoffrey Burbidge Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093; email: [email protected] Access provided by 86.180.70.91 on 05/06/20. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 2007.45:1-41. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 2007. 45:1–41 The Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics is online at astro.annualreviews.org This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev.astro.45.051806.110552 Copyright c 2007 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved 0066-4146/07/0922-0001$20.00 1 ANRV320-AA45-01 ARI 12 August 2007 11:6 EARLY DAYS I was born in September 1925 in Chipping Norton Oxfordshire, a small market town in the Cotswolds roughly midway between Oxford and Stratford-on-Avon. The families of both of my parents had lived in Chipping Norton for many generations. My father, Leslie Burbidge, who had served in the First World War in Serbia and Greece, was a partner with his two brothers, Fred and Percy, in a small building firm, Burbidge and Sons, which covered a large rural area, building, renovating, and repairing many kinds of Cotswold buildings using Cotswold stone, etc. I was an only child, but my father had five brothers, one of whom had died during the war, and two sisters.
    [Show full text]
  • Donald Lynden-Bell (1935–2018)
    RETROSPECTIVE RETROSPECTIVE Donald Lynden-Bell (1935–2018) Martin J. Reesa,1 Donald Lynden-Bell was lucky in his heredity and his film-maker, Alison Rose, accompanied them and created environment. His great-grandfather knew the famous a movie called Star Men,inwhichtheprotagonists(all astronomer John Herschel. His father, an army Colo- elderly) reminisced about life, the universe, and every- nel, inherited a telescope and introduced Donald to thing. Donald, a keen mountaineer in his youth, enjoyed the wonders of the sky. At his school, Marlborough making this movie and spoke at several special showings. College, Donald was exceedingly well taught. He came But the most important event for Donald in his up to Clare College to read mathematics. In his second postdoctorate years was his marriage to Ruth in 1961. year, he was supervised by the great physicist Abdus She moved to California to finish her chemistry doctor- Salam, who advised him to divert for a year to study ate, but they both returned to Cambridge in 1962. physics, which Donald did before returning to mathe- Donald then became an assistant lecturer in matics for his fourth year. He thereby had a superb mathematics and a Fellow of Clare College. I attended launching-pad for research. his course on statistical mechanics. It was one of his Donald’s doctoral supervisor was Leon Mestel, a favorite subjects and he gave spirited performances. world expert on cosmic magnetism. But Donald found But Donald felt his teaching obligations didn’t leave Leon’sproblems“too intractable,” so instead he began to enough time for research, so he soon moved to the forge his lifetime interest in stel- Royal Observatory at Herstmonceux in Sussex.
    [Show full text]