APS Far West Section 2018 Newsletter
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Ira Sprague Bowen Papers, 1940-1973
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2p300278 No online items Inventory of the Ira Sprague Bowen Papers, 1940-1973 Processed by Ronald S. Brashear; machine-readable finding aid created by Gabriela A. Montoya Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2203 Fax: (626) 449-5720 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554 © 1998 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection Inventory of the Ira Sprague 1 Bowen Papers, 1940-1973 Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection Inventory of the Ira Sprague Bowen Paper, 1940-1973 The Huntington Library San Marino, California Contact Information Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2203 Fax: (626) 449-5720 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554 Processed by: Ronald S. Brashear Encoded by: Gabriela A. Montoya © 1998 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Ira Sprague Bowen Papers, Date (inclusive): 1940-1973 Creator: Bowen, Ira Sprague Extent: Approximately 29,000 pieces in 88 boxes Repository: The Huntington Library San Marino, California 91108 Language: English. Provenance Placed on permanent deposit in the Huntington Library by the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection. This was done in 1989 as part of a letter of agreement (dated November 5, 1987) between the Huntington and the Carnegie Observatories. The papers have yet to be officially accessioned. Cataloging of the papers was completed in 1989 prior to their transfer to the Huntington. -
Professor Margaret Burbidge Obituary Trailblazing Astronomer Hailed As ‘Lady Stardust’ Who Became the First Woman Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory
OBITUARY Professor Margaret Burbidge obituary Trailblazing astronomer hailed as ‘Lady Stardust’ who became the first woman director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory Wednesday April 08 2020, 12.01am, The Times Margaret Burbidge showed how heavier elements are produced from lighter ones in stars AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY In August 1944 Margaret Burbidge, then a young astronomer driven by a thirst for knowledge that would later define her, was studying for her PhD thesis. Her subject was a star called Gamma Cassiopeiae and she was not going to allow the Second World War to stand in her way. Each evening she would travel from the family home close to Hampstead Heath to the University of London Observatory at Mill Hill Park and open up the telescope named after its donor, JG Wilson. She would then spend hours sitting in the cramped and cold space below it, alone with her view of the stars. At that time the Luftwaffe was sending doodlebug flying bombs across the Channel to terrorise the capital but Burbidge ignored the danger. On the night of August 3, her log notes that shortly before 10pm, just after she had opened up the telescope, a flying bomb exploded so close to the observatory that the reverberations from the impact shifted the star out of the telescope’s field of vision. Undeterred she started her observations again a few minutes later only for another doodlebug to explode, this time farther away. Although the star was temporarily lost again she quickly recovered it and completed her observations. “Those nights, standing or sitting on the ladder in the dome of the Wilson reflector . -
Science Fiction Stories with Good Astronomy & Physics
Science Fiction Stories with Good Astronomy & Physics: A Topical Index Compiled by Andrew Fraknoi (U. of San Francisco, Fromm Institute) Version 7 (2019) © copyright 2019 by Andrew Fraknoi. All rights reserved. Permission to use for any non-profit educational purpose, such as distribution in a classroom, is hereby granted. For any other use, please contact the author. (e-mail: fraknoi {at} fhda {dot} edu) This is a selective list of some short stories and novels that use reasonably accurate science and can be used for teaching or reinforcing astronomy or physics concepts. The titles of short stories are given in quotation marks; only short stories that have been published in book form or are available free on the Web are included. While one book source is given for each short story, note that some of the stories can be found in other collections as well. (See the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, cited at the end, for an easy way to find all the places a particular story has been published.) The author welcomes suggestions for additions to this list, especially if your favorite story with good science is left out. Gregory Benford Octavia Butler Geoff Landis J. Craig Wheeler TOPICS COVERED: Anti-matter Light & Radiation Solar System Archaeoastronomy Mars Space Flight Asteroids Mercury Space Travel Astronomers Meteorites Star Clusters Black Holes Moon Stars Comets Neptune Sun Cosmology Neutrinos Supernovae Dark Matter Neutron Stars Telescopes Exoplanets Physics, Particle Thermodynamics Galaxies Pluto Time Galaxy, The Quantum Mechanics Uranus Gravitational Lenses Quasars Venus Impacts Relativity, Special Interstellar Matter Saturn (and its Moons) Story Collections Jupiter (and its Moons) Science (in general) Life Elsewhere SETI Useful Websites 1 Anti-matter Davies, Paul Fireball. -
A New Universe to Discover: a Guide to Careers in Astronomy
A New Universe to Discover A Guide to Careers in Astronomy Published by The American Astronomical Society What are Astronomy and Astrophysics? Ever since Galileo first turned his new-fangled one-inch “spyglass” on the moon in 1609, the popular image of the astronomer has been someone who peers through a telescope at the night sky. But astronomers virtually never put eye to lens these days. The main source of astronomical data is still photons (particles of light) from space, but the tools used to gather and analyze them are now so sophisticated that it’s no longer necessary (or even possible, in most cases) for a human eye to look through them. But for all the high-tech gadgetry, the 21st-Century astronomer is still trying to answer the same fundamental questions that puzzled Galileo: How does the universe work, and where did it come from? Webster’s dictionary defines “astronomy” as “the science that deals with the material universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere.” This definition is broad enough to include great theoretical physicists like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking as well as astronomers like Copernicus, Johanes Kepler, Fred Hoyle, Edwin Hubble, Carl Sagan, Vera Rubin, and Margaret Burbidge. In fact, the words “astronomy” and “astrophysics” are pretty much interchangeable these days. Whatever you call them, astronomers seek the answers to many fascinating and fundamental questions. Among them: *Is there life beyond earth? *How did the sun and the planets form? *How old are the stars? *What exactly are dark matter and dark energy? *How did the Universe begin, and how will it end? Astronomy is a physical (non-biological) science, like physics and chemistry. -
UCB Conservatives Take Control
I Burbidge on the universe What we're expanding into by Han :\"bar ' 'I'm vcr ' pIcas d ," sh> Sd ld . ' 'I'm ry Managing Editor interc sted In h<.lvlng more WOOl n in the ph cal " I believ that the pi 'tur of the universe we S 'i nc s. W have very few " v But what d e <.In <.tstronorner do at fr , D? have now i much too simplistic. I b Ii ve th I r al thing is much mor compli ated. If you talk Burbldg is on i..I team headed by Ri chard about the univers you find that people find it Harms of th D Physics Departm nt, which hard to think of an xpandin,g univ r . The ha b en harg d with designing a pe trograph ay, OK , what' out ide? WhClt's it expanding for p ce tele cop , chedul d to be put into into? That's becau w think in terms of our orbit in 1983. Th team is one of five worldwide own ordinary everyday experience, and teams who i building in truments for th 96 therefore the co molog we ' \' 'on tru ,t d is as in h diameter telescop . impl a possible," said Ma rgar t Burbidge, a There is a need for the pace telescope, aid CSD professor of phy ics. Burbidge. " We 'll have a chance to study the But Burbidge is also currently pre identofthe ultraviolet region which has been cut off to us American A tronomical ociety, the first because of th earth ' atmosphere. -
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars 1956-57- 2016-2017 (61 Years)
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars 1956-57- 2016-2017 (61 years) 2016-2017 (112 visits) Adorno, Rolena Spanish/Latin American literatur Yale Bialek, William physics Princeton Ehrman, Bart D. religion, New Testament UNC-Chapel Hill Grosz, Barbara J. computer science Harvard Hochschild, Jennifer L. political science Harvard Kitcher, Philip philosophy Columbia Lester, Marsha I. chemistry Penn Morse, Nora Naranjo fine arts, poetry, sculpture Espanola, NM Rodgers, Daniel T. American history & culture Princeton Sabloff, Jeremy A. anthropology, Maya Penn Weiman, David F. economic history Barnard Wexler, Laura American studies Yale Witt, John Fabian law, American history Yale Wright, Patricia anthropology/primatology SUNY, Stony Brook Xiao, Shuhai geobiology/paleobiology Virginia Tech 2015-2016 (100 visits) Michael Bérubé English, disability studies Penn State Caroline Bruzelius art, art history Duke David K. Campbell physics, engineering Boston U. Hazel V. Carby African American studies Yale Carol Greenhouse anthropology, sociocultural Princeton David B. Grusky sociology, inequality, poverty Stanford Rigoberto Hernandez biochemistry, diversity studies Georgia Tech Mae Ngai history, Asian American studies Columbia Judith Resnik law Yale Timothy Rowe paleontology, geology UTAustin Larry A. Silver art history, Renaissance Penn Harold W. Stanley political science, elections Southern Methodist Richard Sylla American economic history NYU Blaire Van Valkenburgh vertebrate paleonbiology UCLA Vincent L. Wimbush religion Inst.SignifyingScriptures 2014-2015 (96 visits) Jeffrey C. Alexander sociology Yale William Y. Arms computer science Cornell Wendy Brown political science UCBerkeley Caroline Bruzelius art, art history Duke Philip J. Deloria history, American Indian Michigan Gerald Graff English, education Illinois at Chicago Kathleen McGarry economics, aging UCLA Gregory A. Petsko neurology, neuroscience Cornell Med. -
Women in Astronomy: an Introductory Resource Guide
Women in Astronomy: An Introductory Resource Guide by Andrew Fraknoi (Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco) [April 2019] © copyright 2019 by Andrew Fraknoi. All rights reserved. For permission to use, or to suggest additional materials, please contact the author at e-mail: fraknoi {at} fhda {dot} edu This guide to non-technical English-language materials is not meant to be a comprehensive or scholarly introduction to the complex topic of the role of women in astronomy. It is simply a resource for educators and students who wish to begin exploring the challenges and triumphs of women of the past and present. It’s also an opportunity to get to know the lives and work of some of the key women who have overcome prejudice and exclusion to make significant contributions to our field. We only include a representative selection of living women astronomers about whom non-technical material at the level of beginning astronomy students is easily available. Lack of inclusion in this introductory list is not meant to suggest any less importance. We also don’t include Wikipedia articles, although those are sometimes a good place for students to begin. Suggestions for additional non-technical listings are most welcome. Vera Rubin Annie Cannon & Henrietta Leavitt Maria Mitchell Cecilia Payne ______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents: 1. Written Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy 2. Written Resources on Issues Women Face 3. Web Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy 4. Web Resources on Issues Women Face 5. Material on Some Specific Women Astronomers of the Past: Annie Cannon Margaret Huggins Nancy Roman Agnes Clerke Henrietta Leavitt Vera Rubin Williamina Fleming Antonia Maury Charlotte Moore Sitterly Caroline Herschel Maria Mitchell Mary Somerville Dorrit Hoffleit Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Beatrice Tinsley Helen Sawyer Hogg Dorothea Klumpke Roberts 6. -
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. -
Refueling the Magic Furnace: Kilonova 2017 Rewrites the Story of Element Origins
Refueling the Magic Furnace: Kilonova 2017 Rewrites the Story of Element Origins Barry Wood University of Houston Abstract For more than half a century, we have understood element creation in the stars—described in Marcus Chown’s colorful image as “the magic furnace.” From 1958 until 2017, supernova explosions were thought to be the primary site of element creation above Iron, No. 26 on the Periodic Table. This assumption was radically overturned with the August 17, 2017, arrival of signals from a catastrophic collision of neutron stars. This paper traces the history of element-creation science leading to the striking discoveries attending “Kilonova 2017” that now call for a rewriting of the nucleosynthesis chapter of Big History. Correspondence | Barry Wood, [email protected] Citation | Wood, B. (2018) Refueling the Magic Furnace: Kilonova 2017 Rewrites the Story of Element Origins. Journal of Big History, II(3); 1 - 15. DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.22339/jbh.v2i3.2300 Introduction Beginning at 24 Hertz, it gradually rose over 100 Pangea had recently broken up . North America and seconds to several hundred Hertz—indicating the Europe were slowly drifting apart inspiraling of two massive bodies about to detonate . the Himalayas had not yet appeared . tropical in a cataclysmic collision. Following 3,000 cycles, the jungles harbored enormous predatory dinosaurs that GW signal came to an abrupt end at 12:41:04.4 UTC would roam the earth for another 65 million years . (Coordinated Universal Time). Almost immediately mammals the size of housecats kept to the shadows . (1.74 seconds later) a two-second gamma-ray burst . -
UCSD Astronomer, Margaret Burbidge, Identifies Two Quasars Associated with Neighboring Galaxy
UCSD Astronomer, Margaret Burbidge, identifies two quasars associated with neighboring galaxy June 12, 1995 EMBARGOED for release by AAS: 10 a.m. EDT, Monday, June 12, 1995 Media Contacts: Warren R. Froelich, (619) 534-8564 Janet Howard, (619) 534-7572 UCSD ASTRONOMER IDENTIFIES TWO QUASARS ASSOCIATED WITH NEIGHBORING GALAXY An astronomer from the University of California, San Diego has identified a pair of highly energetic X-ray emitting objects associated with a neighboring galaxy as quasars probably ejected from a central black hole. The finding represents the first firm evidence that these celestial beacons can exist in regions relatively close to Earth. The report was presented today by Margaret Burbidge, research professor with UCSD's Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Burbidge said that although the finding appears to contradict the general assumption that quasars exist only at great distances from us, near the edge of the universe, it shouldn't undermine the notion that the universe is expanding as a result of an initial Big Bang--the explosion that most astronomers believe gave birth to the cosmos. "For nearly 25 years the possibility that some quasars have been ejected from nearby active galaxies has intrigued a few astronomers, but horrified the majority, who see it as an attack on the Hubble expanding universe," she said. "This is not the case. "What the observations show is that some galaxies, usually nearby ones with unusual properties in their central nuclear region, have more quasars lying close by than would be expected from the overall statistical distribution of quasars." The newly identified quasars are located in the field of a galaxy called NGC 4258 located about 21 million light years away from Earth--a mere stone's throw by celestial standards. -
A STELLAR CAREER by Benjamin Skuse the Astronomer Who Taught Us We Are All Made of Stardust Will Celebrate Her 100Th Birthday On
A STELLAR CAREER by Benjamin Skuse Happy Birthday, The astronomer who taught us we are all made Margaret of stardust will celebrate her 100th birthday on Burbidge August 12, 2019. ARCHIVE S&T CYGNUS LOOP: ESA / DIGITIZED SKY SURVEY / CALTECH; BURBIDGE: 60 JULY 2019 • SKY & TELESCOPE ©2019 Sky & Telescope. All rights reserved. LADY STARDUST Margaret Burbidge, who celebrates her 100th birthday in August, had a long and stellar career in multiple fields of astrophysics. One of her most significant achievements was formulating our understand- ing of nucleosynthesis in stars. Among positions she held in her lifetime were director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory and president of the American Astronomical Society, both the first time that a woman filled the post. The photograph shows Burbidge in Dallas, Texas, in February 1964. ©2019 Sky & Telescope. All rights reserved. skyandtelescope.com • JULY 2019 61 A Stellar Career ou can’t give telescope time for this junk science! Who and for the first time the stars were clearly visible to her, “ does she think she is?” blustered a young upstart upon and she was smitten.” Yhearing that an elderly astronomer wanted half a night This fascination, combined with a talent for mathemat- with one of the brand-new Keck telescopes to observe objects ics, developed to the point where she was reading the books that might disprove the Big Bang theory. of astronomer and mathematician Sir James Jeans, a distant Observatory Director Joe Miller was quick to put the relative on her mother’s side, by the age of 12. She went on youngster in his place: “You just look up Margaret Burbidge, to study astronomy at University College London, graduat- the Margaret Burbidge, and you’ll know who she is,” he said. -
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.