In the Decade Between 1918 and 1928, Leiden Observatory Changed
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Review Section
CSIRO PUBLISHING www.publish.csiro.au/journals/hras Historical Records of Australian Science, 2004, 15, 121–138 Review Section Compiled by Libby Robin Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES), Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia. Email: [email protected] Tom Frame and Don Faulkner: Stromlo: loss of what he described as a ‘national an Australian observatory. Allen & Unwin: icon’. Sydney, 2003. xix + 363 pp., illus., ISBN 1 Institutional histories are often suffused 86508 659 2 (PB), $35. with a sense of inevitability. Looking back from the security of a firmly grounded present, the road seems straight and well marked. The journey that is reconstructed is one where the end point is always known, where uncertainties and diversions are forgotten — a journey that lands neatly on the institution’s front doorstep. Institu- tional histories are often burdened, too, by the expectation that they will not merely tell a story, but provide a record of achieve- ment. Written for the institution’s staff, as well as broader public, they can become bogged down in the details of personnel and projects. In this case, the fires of January 2003 add an unexpected final act Few institutional histories could boast such to what is a fairly traditional story of a dramatic conclusion as Stromlo: an Aus- growth and success. The force of nature tralian observatory. The manuscript was intervenes to remind us of the limits of substantially complete when a savage fire- inevitability, to fashion from the end point storm swept through the pine plantations another beginning. flanking Mount Stromlo, destroying all the The book is roughly divided into halves. -
William Liller (1927–2021)
Bulletin of the AAS • Vol. 53, Issue 2 William Liller (1927–2021) Alan Hirshfeld1, Christine Jones2, William Forman2 1UMass Dartmouth, 2Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Published on: Apr 07, 2021 DOI: 10.3847/25c2cfeb.97f3253d License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0) Bulletin of the AAS • Vol. 53, Issue 2 William Liller (1927–2021) William Liller died on Sunday the 28th of February 2021. William (“Bill”) Liller, research mentor and major contributor to the study of planetary nebulae, comets, asteroids, magnetic activity in cool stars, the optical identification of X-ray sources, and astro-archaeology, died peacefully in his sleep on 28 February 2021, after a brief illness. He was 93 years old. Born on 1 April 1927 in Philadelphia to Carroll Kalbaugh “Pete” Liller, an advertising executive, and his wife, Catherine Dellinger Liller, Bill noted in the book “Asteroids to Quasars” that he became “obsessed with astronomy” in Photo courtesy Clive Grainger. August 1932, when his uncle drove up from West Virginia in a Model A Ford to view a solar eclipse from New York, near where Bill’s family was living at the time. At age 13, Bill’s report on the Quadrantid meteor shower was cited in an article in Popular Astronomy from the American Meteor Society. In his letter to the society, Bill had misspelled the name of the society’s director, C. P. Olivier, which Bill believed led to an intentional misspelling of his own name in the published article as “Billy Lillier.” In the February 2018 issue of the alumni magazine of Harvard’s Adams House, Bill recalled the years leading up to his matriculation in 1944: “After attending public schools in my home town of Atlanta, I was shipped off ‘to finish,’ and I spent my last two high school years at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. -
Dirk Brouwer
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES D I R K B R O U W ER 1902—1966 A Biographical Memoir by G . M . C LEMENCE Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoir COPYRIGHT 1970 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES WASHINGTON D.C. DIRK BROUWER September 1, 1902-January 31, 1966 BY G. M. CLEMENCE IRK BROUWER, who contributed more to dynamical astron- D omy than any other astronomer of his time, died on January 31, 1966, after a week in hospital; his death was occa- sioned by an acute disorder of the heart. He is survived by his widow and an only son, James. Brouwer was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on September 1, 1902, the son of a civil service employee. As a stu- dent in the University of Leiden he studied mathematics and astronomy, coming under the influence of Willem de Sitter, who in his own day was the dean of that branch of astronomy in which Brouwer was to do most of his work. Receiving the Ph.D. degree in 1927 under de Sitter, Brouwer came to the United States as a fellow of the International Education Board, spending a year at the University of California in Berkeley and at Yale University, where he was to remain the rest of his life. His initial appointment at Yale was in 1928 as research as- sistant to Ernest W. Brown, who was then the greatest living authority on the motion of the moon. -
Anton Pannekoek: Ways of Viewing Science and Society
STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE Tai, Van der Steen & Van Dongen (eds) Dongen & Van Steen der Van Tai, Edited by Chaokang Tai, Bart van der Steen, and Jeroen van Dongen Anton Pannekoek: Ways of Viewing Science and Society Ways of Viewing ScienceWays and Society Anton Pannekoek: Anton Pannekoek: Ways of Viewing Science and Society Studies in the History of Knowledge This book series publishes leading volumes that study the history of knowledge in its cultural context. It aspires to offer accounts that cut across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, while being sensitive to how institutional circumstances and different scales of time shape the making of knowledge. Series Editors Klaas van Berkel, University of Groningen Jeroen van Dongen, University of Amsterdam Anton Pannekoek: Ways of Viewing Science and Society Edited by Chaokang Tai, Bart van der Steen, and Jeroen van Dongen Amsterdam University Press Cover illustration: (Background) Fisheye lens photo of the Zeiss Planetarium Projector of Artis Amsterdam Royal Zoo in action. (Foreground) Fisheye lens photo of a portrait of Anton Pannekoek displayed in the common room of the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy. Source: Jeronimo Voss Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout isbn 978 94 6298 434 9 e-isbn 978 90 4853 500 2 (pdf) doi 10.5117/9789462984349 nur 686 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) The authors / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2019 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise). -
212 Publications of the Some Pioneer
212 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOME PIONEER OBSERVERS1 By Frank Schlesinger In choosing a subject upon which to speak to you this eve- ning, I have had to bear in mind that, although this is a meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, not many of my audience are astronomers, and I am therefore debarred from speaking on too technical a matter. Under these circumstances I have thought that a historical subject, and one that has been somewhat neglected by the, formal historians of our science, may be of interest. I propose to outline, very briefly of course, the history of the advances that have been made in the accuracy of astronomical measurements. To do this within an hour, I must confine myself to the measurement of the relative places of objects not very close together, neglecting not only measure- ments other than of angles, but also such as can be carried out, for example, by the filar micrometer and the interferometer; these form a somewhat distinct chapter and would be well worth your consideration in an evening by themselves. It is clear to you, I hope, in how restricted a sense I am using the word observer ; Galileo, Herschel, and Barnard were great observers in another sense and they were great pioneers. But of their kind of observing I am not to speak to you tonight. My pioneers are five in number ; they are Hipparchus in the second century b.c., Tycho in the sixteenth century, Bradley in the eighteenth, Bessel in the first half of the nineteenth century and Rüther fur d in the second half. -
De Nobelprijzen Komen Eraan!
De Nobelprijzen komen eraan! De Nobelprijzen komen eraan! In de loop van volgende week worden de Nobelprijswinnaars van dit jaar aangekondigd. Daarna weten we wie in december deze felbegeerde prijzen in ontvangst mogen gaan nemen. De Nobelprijzen zijn wellicht de meest prestigieuze en bekende academische onderscheidingen ter wereld, maar waarom eigenlijk? Hoe zijn de prijzen ontstaan, en wie was hun grondlegger, Alfred Nobel? Afbeelding 1. Alfred Nobel.Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was de grondlegger van de Nobelprijzen. Volgende week is de jaarlijkse aankondiging van de prijswinnaard. Alfred Nobel Alfred Nobel was een belangrijke negentiende-eeuwse Zweedse scheikundige en uitvinder. Hij werd geboren in Stockholm in 1833 in een gezin met acht kinderen. Zijn vader, Immanuel Nobel, was een werktuigkundige en uitvinder die succesvol was met het maken van wapens en stoommotoren. Immanuel wou dat zijn zonen zijn bedrijf zouden overnemen en stuurde Alfred daarom op een twee jaar durende reis naar onder andere Duitsland, Frankrijk en de Verenigde Staten, om te leren over chemische werktuigbouwkunde. In Parijs ontmoette bron: https://www.quantumuniverse.nl/de-nobelprijzen-komen-eraan Pagina 1 van 5 De Nobelprijzen komen eraan! Alfred de Italiaanse scheikundige Ascanio Sobrero, die drie jaar eerder het explosief nitroglycerine had ontdekt. Nitroglycerine had een veel grotere explosieve kracht dan het buskruit, maar was ook veel gevaarlijker om te gebruiken omdat het instabiel is. Alfred raakte geinteresseerd in nitroglycerine en hoe het gebruikt kon worden voor commerciele doeleinden, en ging daarom werken aan de stabiliteit en veiligheid van de stof. Een makkelijk project was dit niet, en meerdere malen ging het flink mis. -
Appendix E • Nobel Prizes
Appendix E • Nobel Prizes All Nobel Prizes in physics are listed (and marked with a P), as well as relevant Nobel Prizes in Chemistry (C). The key dates for some of the scientific work are supplied; they often antedate the prize considerably. 1901 (P) Wilhelm Roentgen for discovering x-rays (1895). 1902 (P) Hendrik A. Lorentz for predicting the Zeeman effect and Pieter Zeeman for discovering the Zeeman effect, the splitting of spectral lines in magnetic fields. 1903 (P) Antoine-Henri Becquerel for discovering radioactivity (1896) and Pierre and Marie Curie for studying radioactivity. 1904 (P) Lord Rayleigh for studying the density of gases and discovering argon. (C) William Ramsay for discovering the inert gas elements helium, neon, xenon, and krypton, and placing them in the periodic table. 1905 (P) Philipp Lenard for studying cathode rays, electrons (1898–1899). 1906 (P) J. J. Thomson for studying electrical discharge through gases and discover- ing the electron (1897). 1907 (P) Albert A. Michelson for inventing optical instruments and measuring the speed of light (1880s). 1908 (P) Gabriel Lippmann for making the first color photographic plate, using inter- ference methods (1891). (C) Ernest Rutherford for discovering that atoms can be broken apart by alpha rays and for studying radioactivity. 1909 (P) Guglielmo Marconi and Carl Ferdinand Braun for developing wireless telegraphy. 1910 (P) Johannes D. van der Waals for studying the equation of state for gases and liquids (1881). 1911 (P) Wilhelm Wien for discovering Wien’s law giving the peak of a blackbody spectrum (1893). (C) Marie Curie for discovering radium and polonium (1898) and isolating radium. -
Open Access Proceedings Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Journal of Physics: Conference Series PAPER • OPEN ACCESS Related content - Fabrication of Diamond-Glass Composite Micro-gravity measurements during the total solar under Micro-Gravity Tatsuo Noma and Akira Sawaoka eclipse of 9 March 2016 in Indonesia - Magnetic compensation of the gravity by using superconducting axisymmetric coils: spherical harmonics method To cite this article: Agus Laesanpura et al 2016 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 771 012003 C Lorin and A Mailfert - Groundwater storage change detection using micro-gravimetric technology Mohammed El-Diasty View the article online for updates and enhancements. This content was downloaded from IP address 167.205.22.105 on 18/01/2018 at 01:59 International Symposium on Sun, Earth, and Life (ISSEL) IOP Publishing Journal of Physics: Conference Series 771 (2016) 012003 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/771/1/012003 Micro-gravity measurements during the total solar eclipse of 9 March 2016 in Indonesia Agus Laesanpura1, Taufiq Hidayat 2, Dady Abdurachman1, Putra Mahasena2, Premana W. Premadi 2, Hesti Wulandari2, Yudi Suharyadi3, Achmad Sjarmidi4 1Geophysic Engineering Study Program, ITB 2Bosscha Observatory and Astronomy Research Division, FMIPA, ITB 3Analysis Research Division, FMIPA, ITB 4School of Life Sciences and Technology, ITB E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. Since 1950s, several authors have reported the so-called anomalous gravity during the total solar eclipses through various experiments. To address this issue, in the moment of the total solar eclipse of 9 March 2016 passing most regions in Indonesia, we undertook microgravity measurements using two precise gravimeters. The measurements were made at two locations: (1) Poso (central Sulawesi), a location close to the centre passage of the total eclipse and (2) Lembang (West Java), the site of Bosscha Observatory, where the partial solar eclipse occurred. -
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. -
Your Guide to the Universe
Contents 1. The Sun 3 11. The Place of our Solar System in the Universe 27 2. Why Do We Study the Sun? 4 12. Space Exploration 28 2.1. Top 10 Facts About the Sun: 4 13. South Africa and Space Exploration 30 2.2. A Closer Look at the Sun 5 14. Famous Astronomers 31 3. The Solar System 6 15. Famous Women Astronomers 32 4. The Planets 7 16. Women Astronomers in South Africa 33 4.1. Mercury 8 17. Astronomers in South African History 33 4.2. Venus 9 18. Astronomy In South Africa 34 4.3. Earth 10 18.1. History 34 4.4. Mars 11 18.2. Modern Times 35 4.5. Jupiter 12 18.3. Radio Astronomy 36 4.6. Saturn 13 18.4. The Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope 37 4.7. Uranus 14 18.5. Geodesy 38 4.8. Neptune 15 4.9. Pluto and Dwarf planets 16 4.10. Asteroids 17 4.11. Moon 18 4.12. Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites 19 4.13. Comets 20 5. Stars 21 6. Exoplanets 22 7. Galaxies 23 8. The Milky Way Galaxy 24 9. The Universe and the Big Bang 25 10. Cosmology 26 The Sun We look at the Sun rising every day. It’s bright, it’s big and it warms us up. Our Sun happens to be the brightest object in our Solar System and naturally we are really curious to know more about it. The Sun’s heat and light provide the energy for life to exist on Earth. -
Annual Report 2010
Research Institute Leiden Observatory (Onderzoekinstituut Sterrewacht Leiden) Annual Report 2010 Sterrewacht Leiden Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Leiden University Niels Bohrweg 2 Postbus 9513 2333 CA Leiden 2330 RA Leiden The Netherlands http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl Cover: In the Sackler Laboratory for Astrophysics, the circumstances in the inter- and circumstellar medium are simulated. In 2010, water was successfully made on icy dust grains by H-atom bombardment, understanding was gained how complex molecules form under the extreme conditions that are typical for space, and experiments are now ongoing that investigate under which conditions the building blocks of life form. The picture shows the lab’s newest setup - MATRI2CES - that has been constructed with the aim to 'unlock the chemistry of the heavens'. An electronic version of this annual report is available on the web at http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/research/annualreport.php?node=23 Production Annual Report 2010: A. van der Tang, E. Gerstel, F.P. Israel, J. Lub, M. Israel, E. Deul Sterrewacht Leiden Executive (Directie Onderzoeksinstituut) Director K. Kuijken Wetenschappelijk Directeur Director of Education F.P. Israel Onderwijs Directeur Institute Manager E. Gerstel Instituutsmanager Supervisory Council (Raad van advies) Prof. Dr. Ir. J.A.M. Bleeker (Chair) Dr. B. Baud Drs. J.F. van Duyne Prof. Dr. K. Gaemers Prof. Dr. C. Waelkens CONTENTS Contents: Part I Chapter 1 1.1 Foreword 1 1.2 Obituary Adriaan Blaauw 5 1.3 Obituary Jaap Tinbergen 7 Chapter 2 2.1 Heritage 11 2.2 Extrasolar planets 13 2.3 Circumstellar gas and dust 15 2.4 Chemistry and physics of the interstellar medium 20 2.5 Stars 25 2.6 Galaxies of the Local Group 30 2.7 Nearby galaxies: observations and theory 37 2.8. -
Lives in Astronomy
LIVES IN ASTRONOMY John Scales Avery January 2, 2020 2 Contents 1 EARLY HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY 7 1.1 Prehistoric Europe . .7 1.2 Ancient India and China . 12 1.3 Mesopotamia, 4000 BC . 12 1.4 Ancient Egypt . 15 1.5 Eratosthenes . 19 1.6 Aristarchus . 19 2 COPERNICUS, BRAHE, KEPLER AND GALILEO 25 2.1 Copernicus . 25 2.2 Tycho Brahe . 27 2.3 Johannes Kepler . 31 2.4 Galileo . 35 3 NEWTON 47 3.1 Newton . 47 3.2 Lagrange and Laplace . 56 3.3 Hamilton . 60 4 HUYGENS, RØMER AND MAXWELL 63 4.1 Christiaan Huygens: The wave theory of light . 63 4.2 Ole Rømer: The velocity of light . 67 4.3 James Clerk Maxwell: Light as electromagnetic waves . 70 5 EINSTEIN 75 5.1 Family background . 75 5.2 Special relativity theory . 80 5.3 General relativity . 81 5.4 Schwartzschild's solutions: Black holes . 84 6 LEVITT AND HUBBLE 89 6.1 Henrietta Swan Leavitt . 89 6.2 Edwin Hubble . 92 3 4 CONTENTS 6.3 The Hubble Space Telescope . 97 7 RADIO ASTRONOMY 109 7.1 Early history of radio astronomy . 109 7.2 Sir Martin Ryle and Anthony Hewish . 111 7.3 Jocelyn Bell Burnell . 114 7.4 Quasars, pulsars, and neutron stars . 116 7.5 Penzias and Wilson . 119 8 CHANDRASEKHAR 125 8.1 Early life and career . 125 8.2 Magnetohydrodynamics . 126 8.3 The formation and evolution of stars . 129 8.4 Black holes: The Chandrasekhar limit . 133 8.5 Chandrasekhar's Nobel Prize in Physics . 133 9 HAWKING, PENROSE AND HIGGS 139 9.1 Penrose-Hawking singularity theorems .