No. 70 - December 1992 Jan Hendrik OORT (1900-1992) Looking Ahead in Wonder

The life of the man I think of as this scenes. His research spans seven de­ found (MERCURY, March/April 1992), century's greatest astronomer ended on cades: from his first paper, in 1922, enti­ on "Exploring the Nuclei of Galaxies (In­ 5 November 1992, a Iife long, rich, full of tled "Some peculiarities in the motion of c1uding our Own)". Oort normally dealt arduous labour and marvellous results. stars of high velocities" to the last one I with major themes that he pursued for Without Jan Oort, ESO would not have begun when it did, indeed without him ESO might never have been. Yet our Organization's birth is but one of his many achievements and as we grateful­ Iy remember him, his life is an inspiration unparalleled in our science, an epoch­ making journey of our time. At Leiden Observatory - de Sterre­ wacht de Leiden - wh ich was Oort's base for most of his professional en­ deavours, a careful compilation of his writings, including notes and corre­ spondence, has been prepared and re­ cently published, the archive deposited with the Leiden University Library, readi­ Iy accessible for historical research. In 1980 friends and colleagues wrote a book, a fiber amicorum for and about him, called OORT and the UNfVERSE. Shortly thereafter Oort himself wrote one of his scarce autobiographical pa­ pers wh ich appeared in the series "My life as an Astronomer", in the 1981 issue of Annuaf Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics. A fascinating biography remains to be written. Professor Oort managed in some in­ imitable way to combine his teaching' and research in the university context with policy making, programme de­ velopment and organizational actions on both the national and international J. -H. Oort at the Leiden Observatory, January 1992. Photo: Bert Janssen years or even decades and to which he caused Oort also to take major in­ productivity and unstinting devotion. To contributed insights wh ich have often itiatives in Dutch space research. think however that this must have been become authoritative standards in our Oort was in spirit and actions a world a workaholic's life, neglectful of family science, sometimes the commonly citizen. Aided by his fluency in four and friends, is belied by all of us who shared features of mankind's worldview. languages, he worked towards interna­ knew him from close range. His family Of the former I remember the influence I tional collaborations, exchange and life was rich, as movingly attested by a experienced of his classic paper with astronomical pooling of resources son and a granddaughter at the memo­ Walraven on the Crab Nebula in 1956. throughout his career. It was his fate, and rial gathering on 10 November. Mieke The latter certainly is the case for both the world community's good fortune that and Jan were frequent and warmly the rotation of the Galaxy and the origin he was Secretary General of the Interna­ attentive hosts to innumerable tea- and of comets. He was often decades ahead tional Astronomical Union in 1938. He dinner guests. Those who discussed of his time, was for example lecturing on held this office for a decade, carrying the literary works with Jan, rowed with him dark matter in 1926 ... lAU through those awful times with per­ or skated through the wintry polder Oort cannot be called an observation­ sistence, loyalty and the conviction that landscape north of Leiden know how al astronomer, but neither was he a astronomy defies ideology and is a pre­ broad his interests and how varied his theoretician. He could be more sceptical cious human endeavour. Unlike ESO's, I excertions were. of clever theories than of even the know of no written account for the de­ Nevertheless, things astronomical shakiest of observations (at least if the velopment of the lAU; it will be very were predominant in his life, especially latter fitted his intuitive expectations), interesting to learn what its archives can the latest things and the things to come. his theoretical work was driven and di­ reveal of this period in lAU history. The phrase in the heading of this In rected by empirical evidence, by obser­ Adriaan Blaauw's book "ESO's Early Memoriam is the title Oort wrote he vations, by the phenomena for which he History" has an index where Oort's would have given to the autobiography had an insatiable appetite. He was the name stands out by its long list of page he did not write. He was forever curious interpretive astronomer par excellence, references. More than quantity though, about the latest results from telescopes, able always to discern features in maps it is the substance of Oort's contribu­ any telescope, he lived in anticipation of and in other data sets which those who tions to ESO which is vital and unique. data to come, he hungered for perspec­ had so diligently acquired them had An idea conceived at Leiden in discus­ tives in regions where his mind sought overlooked, could oft barely distinguish sions between Walter Baade and Jan to penetrate; he died, as a well-known even when he pointed them out. One of Oort in 1953, it took ten years to bring it Dutch weekly headlined its obituary, the reasons he interacted so intensely to first fruition, marked by the signatory "with a head full of questions". with such an inordinate number and var­ ceremony of the ESO Convention in The Oort family, in the official iety of astronomers, in conversation, in Paris on 5 October 1962. In the interval announcement of their husband's discussions, in correspondence, was this splendid idea of ESO was father's, grandfather's and greatgrand­ surely his overwhelming interest in as­ threatened numerous times and it was father's death, cite from Loren Eiseley's tronomical data, his contageous en­ the tenacity of Oort, who untiringly used "Immense Journey" a passage so quint­ thusiasm for observational discoveries his linguistically supported diplomatic essentially focussing his life that I repeat and his impatience with the construction skills, wh ich ensured that the future re­ it here: of new facilities. The last time I spoke to mained open. Thanks in large measure "Down how many roads among the him he praised the ND for the SHARP to him, astronomy in Europe today stars must man propel himself in search pictures of the Galactic Centre (referred possesses the exciting prospects to of the final secret! The joumey is to in his last article) and wanted a pro­ wh ich this quarterly testifies each issue. difficult, immense, at times impossible, gress report on the VLT from which, Overviewing Oort's scientific achieve­ yet that will not deter some of us from especially in its interferometric mode, he ments and the size of his oeuvre, one is attempting it . ..; we will travel as far as expected wonders. awed by the creativity of his long life. we can, but we cannot in one lifetime In the Netherlands Oort was the driv­ But assessing his organizational and see all that we would like to see or leam ing force and the guiding spirit of the policy accomplishments is an equally all that we hunger to know. " team which from the simplest beginning amazing experience. That one man It was our privilege to know Jan Hen­ with the Wurzburg dish at Kootwijk, via should take several major initiatives and drik Oort, to learn from him as we trav­ the Dwingeloo Telescope to the sophis­ then lead such a large fraction to suc­ eled far with him. It is our privilege to tication of the Synthesis Radio Tele­ cessful maturity is scarcely imaginable. continue his journey. scope at Westerbork brought radio as­ The combination stands out as towering H. VAN DER LAAN tronomy to its uncontested observation­ al maturity in thirty years of unrivalled progress. While elsewhere radio en­ gineers and physicists started and oper­ ANNOUNCEMENT ated radio observatories, in Holland an astronomer from the start determined 2nd Miniworkshop on Large CCDs the observing programmes, the techni­ is planned for Oetober 4-5, 1993 at the ESO Headquarters in Garehing. As it was the cal priorities and the next telescope's ease for the workshop held in June 1991, ESO solieits the participation of the groups in configuration. As a result the Dutch Europe who are active in this field and will secure the attendance of a few seleeted school of astronomy, perhaps before experts from overseas. We expeet also presentations by the companies which are any other, became problem- rather than involved in the production of CCOs for astronomy. Topics to be diseussed are design, manufaeturing and characterization of large-size technique-oriented, working on as­ CCOs, plans for future devices, control systems and developments related to data tronomical themes and using whatever preproeessing and data compression. technique was available, in whatever II you are interested in future announcements, please contact: wavelength region, as long as it contri­ O. Iwert - CCO Workshop buted to insight in the problems as­ Telefax 49-89-3202362 tronomically posed and astrophysically E-Mail: oiwert(U eso.org (Internet) interpreted. It is this approach wh ich

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