The Gold Medal

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Gold Medal The Gold Medal The Gold Medal is the highest award in the Society's gift, often awarded in recognition of a lifetime’s work. Year Astronomy Geophysics 2000 Leon Lucy Robert Hutchison Year Astronomy Geophysics 1999 Bohdan Kenneth Budden 2020 Sandra Moore Yvonne Elsworth Paczyński Faber 1998 James Peebles Robert L. Parker 2019 Robert Margaret Kivelson 1997 Donald Donald Farley Kennicutt Osterbrock 2018 James Hough Robert White 1996 Vera Rubin Kenneth Creer 2017 Nick Kaiser Michele Dougherty 1995 Rashid Sunyaev John T. Houghton 1994 James E. Gunn Thomas R. Kaiser 2016 John D. Barrow Philip England 1993 Donald Lynden- Peter Goldreich 2015 Michel Mayor Mike Lockwood Bell 2014 Carlos Frenk John Zarnecki 1992 Eugene N. Dan P. McKenzie 2013 Roger Chris Chapman Parker Blandford 1991 Vitaly Ginzburg Gerald J. 2012 Andy Fabian John Brown Wasserburg 2011 Richard Ellis Eberhard Grün 1990 Bernard James W. Dungey 2010 Douglas Gough John Woodhouse Ephraim Julius 2009 David A. Eric Priest Pagel Williams 1989 Ken Pounds Raymond Hide 2008 Joseph Silk Brian Kennett 2007 John L. Culhane Nigel O. Weiss 1988 Cornelis de Don L. Anderson 2006 Simon White Stan Cowley Jager 2005 Margaret Carole Jordan 1987 Martin J. Rees Takesi Nagata Burbidge & 1986 Alexander George E. Backus Geoffrey Dalgarno Burbidge 1985 Stephen Thomas Gold 2004 Jeremiah P. Grenville Turner Hawking Ostriker 1984 Yakov Stanley Keith 2003 John Bahcall David Gubbins Borisovich Runcorn 2002 Leon Mestel John Arthur Jacobs Zel'dovich 2001 Hermann Bondi Henry Rishbeth 1983 Michael John Fred Whipple 1956 Thomas George Seaton Cowling 1982 Riccardo Harrie Massey 1955 Dirk Brouwer Giacconi 1981 Bernard Lovell James Freeman 1954 Walter Baade Gilbert 1953 Subrahmanyan 1980 Maarten Chaim L. Pekeris Chandrasekhar Schmidt 1952 John Jackson 1979 Charles Gorrie Leon Knopoff 1951 A. Pannekoek Wynne 1950 Joel Stebbins 1978 Lyman Spitzer James Van Allen 1949 Sydney Chapman 1977 John Gatenby David Robert Bates 1948 Bertil Lindblad Bolton 1976 William H. John Ashworth 1947 Marcel G. J. McCrea Ratcliffe Minnaert 1975 Jesse Ernst Ӧpik 1946 Jan Hendrik Greenstein Oort 1945 Bengt Edlén 1974 Ludwig Keith Edward Biermann Bullen 1944 Otto Struve 1973 Edwin Salpeter Francis Birch 1943 Harold Spencer Jones 1972 Fritz Zwicky Henry Ivison Shipley Thirlaway 1940 Edwin P. Hubble 1971 Richard van der Frank Press Riet Woolley 1939 Bernard Lyot 1938 William 1970 Horace W. Hammond Babcock Wright 1969 Martin Albert Thomas Price 1937 Harold Jeffreys Schwarzschild 1968 Sir Fred Hoyle Walter Munk 1936 Hisashi Kimura 1967 Allan R. Hannes Alfven 1935 Edward Arthur Sandage Milne 1966 Ira Sprague Harold Clayton 1934 Harlow Shapley Bowen Urey 1965 Gerald Maurice Edward Bullard 1933 Vesto Slipher Clemence 1932 Robert Grant 1964 Martin Ryle Maurice Ewing Aitken 1931 Willem de Sitter 1963 Harry Hemley 1930 John Stanley Plaskett Plaskett 1962 Bengt 1929 Ejnar Strömgren Hertzsprung 1961 Herman 1928 Ralph Allen Zanstra Sampson 1960 Viktor 1927 Frank Ambartsumian Schlesinger 1959 Raymond 1926 Albert Einstein Arthur 1925 Frank Watson Lyttleton 1958 André Danjon Dyson 1924 Arthur Eddington 1957 Albrecht Unsöld 1923 Albert A. 1894 Sherburne Michelson Wesley 1922 James Burnham Hopwood Jeans 1893 Hermann Carl 1921 Henry Norris Vogel Russell 1892 George 1919 Guillaume Howard Darwin Bigourdan 1889 Maurice Loewy 1918 John Evershed 1888 Arthur Auwers 1917 Walter Sydney 1887 George William Adams 1916 John L. E. Hill 1886 Edward Charles Dreyer 1915 Alfred Fowler Pickering, Charles 1914 Max Wolf Pritchard 1913 Henri-Alexandre 1885 William Deslandres Huggins 1912 Arthur Robert Arthur Robert Hinks Hinks 1884 Andrew Ainslie 1911 Philip Herbert Common Cowell 1883 Benjamin A. 1910 Friedrich Kűstner Gould 1909 Oskar Backlund 1882 David Gill 1908 David Gill 1881 Axel Möller 1907 Ernest William 1879 Asaph Hall Brown 1906 William 1878 Ercole Wallace Dembowski 1876 Urbain Le Campbell 1905 Lewis Boss Verrier 1875 Heinrich d'Arrest 1904 George Ellery Hale 1874 Simon 1903 Hermann Struve Newcomb 1902 Jacobus 1872 Giovanni Kapteyn Schiaparelli 1901 Edward Charles 1870 Charles Pickering Delaunay 1900 Henri Poincaré 1869 Edward James Stone 1899 Frank McClean 1868 Urbain Le 1898 William Verrier Frederick 1867 William Denning Huggins, 1897 Edward William Allen Emerson Miller Barnard 1866 John Couch Adams 1896 Seth Carlo Chandler 1865 George Phillips 1895 Isaac Roberts Bond 1863 Friedrich # Maxmilian Wilhelm Weisse, Argelander 1862 Warren de la Rue 1861 Hermann Goldschmidt 1860 Peter Andreas 1845 William Henry Hansen Smyth 1859 Richard Christopher Carrington 1858 Robert Main 1857 Heinrich 1843 Francis Baily Schwabe 1842 Peter Andreas 1856 Robert Grant Hansen 1855 William Rutter 1841 Friedrich Dawes Wilhelm Bessel 1854 Charles 1840 Jean Plana Rümker 1853 John Russell 1839 John Hind Wrottesley 1852 Christian 1837 Otto A. August Rosenberger Friedrich 1836 John Herschel Peters 1835 Manuel J. 1851 Annibale de Johnson Gasparis 1833 George Biddell 1850 Otto Struve Airy 1849 William Lassell 1831 Marie-Charles 1848 # John Couch # George Everest Damoiseau, Adams, # Henry Kater George Biddell 1830 Johann Franz Airy, # Encke, William Richardson Friedrich Wilhelm 1829 Friedrich August Wilhelm Argelander, # Bessel, William George Bishop, Pearson, # Peter Heinrich Andreas Christian Hansen, # Karl Schumacher Ludwig Hencke 1828 Thomas 1846 George Biddell Makdougall Airy, # John Brisbane, James Herschel, # Dunlop, John Russell Caroline Hind, # John Herschel William Lubbock, # Urbain Le Verrier, 1827 Francis Baily, * Mark Beaufoy, * William Samuel Stratford 1826 John Herschel, James South, Wilhelm Struve 1824 Charles Babbage, Johann Franz Encke, * J.L. Pons, *Charles Rumker * Silver Medal # Testimonial .
Recommended publications
  • Stsci Newsletter: 1997 Volume 014 Issue 01
    January 1997 • Volume 14, Number 1 SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE Highlights of this issue: • AURA science and functional awards to Leitherer and Hanisch — pages 1 and 23 • Cycle 7 to be extended — page 5 • Cycle 7 approved Newsletter program listing — pages 7-13 Astronomy with HST Climbing the Starburst Distance Ladder C. Leitherer Massive stars are an important and powerful star formation events in sometimes dominant energy source for galaxies. Even the most luminous star- a galaxy. Their high luminosity, both in forming regions in our Galaxy are tiny light and mechanical energy, makes on a cosmic scale. They are not them detectable up to cosmological dominated by the properties of an distances. Stars ~100 times more entire population but by individual massive than the Sun are one million stars. Therefore stochastic effects times more luminous. Except for stars prevail. Extinction represents a severe of transient brightness, like novae and problem when a reliable census of the supernovae, hot, massive stars are Galactic high-mass star-formation the most luminous stellar objects in history is atempted, especially since the universe. massive stars belong to the extreme Massive stars are, however, Population I, with correspondingly extremely rare: The number of stars small vertical scale heights. Moreover, formed per unit mass interval is the proximity of Galactic regions — roughly proportional to the -2.35 although advantageous for detailed power of mass. We expect to find very studies of individual stars — makes it few massive stars compared to, say, difficult to obtain integrated properties, solar-type stars. This is consistent with such as total emission-line fluxes of observations in our solar neighbor- the ionized gas.
    [Show full text]
  • Mister Mary Somerville: Husband and Secretary
    Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Mister Mary Somerville: Husband and Secretary Journal Item How to cite: Stenhouse, Brigitte (2020). Mister Mary Somerville: Husband and Secretary. The Mathematical Intelligencer (Early Access). For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2020 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1007/s00283-020-09998-6 Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Mister Mary Somerville: Husband and Secretary BRIGITTE STENHOUSE ary Somerville’s life as a mathematician and mathematician). Although no scientific learned society had a savant in nineteenth-century Great Britain was formal statute barring women during Somerville’s lifetime, MM heavily influenced by her gender; as a woman, there was nonetheless a great reluctance even toallow women her access to the ideas and resources developed and into the buildings, never mind to endow them with the rights circulated in universities and scientific societies was highly of members. Except for the visit of the prolific author Margaret restricted. However, her engagement with learned institu- Cavendish in 1667, the Royal Society of London did not invite tions was by no means nonexistent, and although she was women into their hallowed halls until 1876, with the com- 90 before being elected a full member of any society mencement of their second conversazione [15, 163], which (Societa` Geografica Italiana, 1870), Somerville (Figure 1) women were permitted to attend.1 As late as 1886, on the nevertheless benefited from the resources and social nomination of Isis Pogson as a fellow, the Council of the Royal networks cultivated by such institutions from as early as Astronomical Society chose to interpret their constitution as 1812.
    [Show full text]
  • Demystifying Special Relativity; the K-Factor Angel Darlene Harb
    Demystifying Special Relativity; the K-Factor Angel Darlene Harb University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, U.S.A. ABSTRACT This paper targets upper-level high school students and incoming college freshmen who have been less exposed to Special Relativity (SR). The goal is to spark interest and eliminate any feelings of intimidation one might have about a topic brought forth by world genius Albert Einstein. For this purpose, we will introduce some ideas revolving around SR. Additionally, by deriving the relationship between the k-factor and relative velocity, we hope that students come to an appreciation for the impact of basic mathematical skills and the way these can be applied to quite complex models. Advanced readers can directly jump ahead to the section discussing the k-factor. keywords : relative velocity, world lines, space-time 1 Introduction 1.1 A Morsel of History Throughout time, scientists have searched for ’just the right’ model comprised of laws, assumptions and theories that could explain our physical world. One example of a leading physical law is: All matter in the universe is subject to the same forces. It is important to note, this principle is agreeable to scientists, not because it is empirically true, but because this law makes for a good model of nature. Consequently, this law unifies areas like mechanics, electricity and optics traditionally taught separate from each other. Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) contributed to this principle with his ’three laws of motion.’ They were so mathematically elegant, that the Newtonian model dominated the scientific mind for nearly two centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Disciplinary Culture
    Disciplinary Culture: Artillery, Sound, and Science in Woolwich, 1800–1850 Simon Werrett This article explores connections between science, music, and the military in London in the first decades of the nineteenth century.1 Rather than look for applications of music or sound in war, it considers some techniques common to these fields, exemplified in practices involving the pendulum as an instrument of regulation. The article begins by exploring the rise of military music in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and then compares elements of this musical culture to scientific transformations during 1 For broad relations between music and science in this period, see: Myles Jackson, Harmonious Triads: Physicians, Musicians, and Instrument Makers in Nineteenth-Century Germany (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006); Alexandra Hui, The Psychophysical Ear: Musical Experiments, Experimental Sounds, 1840–1910 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012); Emily I. Dolan and John Tresch, “‘A Sublime Invasion’: Meyerbeer, Balzac, and the Opera Machine,” Opera Quarterly 27 (2011), 4–31; Emily Thompson, The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900–1933 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004). On science and war in the Napoleonic period, see for example: Simon Werrett, “William Congreve’s Rational Rockets,” Notes & Records of the Royal Society 63 (2009), 35–56; on sound as a weapon, Roland Wittje, “The Electrical Imagination: Sound Analogies, Equivalent Circuits, and the Rise of Electroacoustics, 1863–1939,” Osiris 28 (2013), 40–63, here 55; Cyrus C. M. Mody, “Conversions: Sound and Sight, Military and Civilian,” in The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies, eds. Trevor Pinch and Karin Bijsterveld (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp.
    [Show full text]
  • STARS, PLANETS and GALAXIES 13-18 April Dahlem, Berlin
    STARS, PLANETS AND GALAXIES 13-18 April Dahlem, Berlin Friday, 13 April STRUCTURE FORMATION: FROM COSMOLOGICAL TO ISM SCALES 12h15 Drinks and light lunch available 13h15 Guinevere Kauffmann Welcome 13h30 Philippe Andre The Interstellar Medium and Star Formation: Observations. 14h00 Simon White The Origin of the Cosmic Web of Structure on Large Scales 14h30 Oliver Hahn Shocks and Caustics and their importance for galaxy formation 15h00 Eva Grebel Environmental dependence of stellar chemical evolution and dependence on galaxy properties 15h30 COFFEE BREAK 16h00 Daniel Price Star formation and the role of magnetic fields and turbulence 16h30 Thorsten Naab Simulations of Interstellar Medium and Star formation in Galaxies 17h00 Volker Springel Multi-scale, multi-physics simulation methods. 17h30 DISCUSSION (organizer: G. Kauffmann) 18h30 Reception - Dinner at Harnack House ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, 14 April DYNAMICAL PROCESSES IN PLANETS, STARS AND GALAXIES 9h00 Sean Andrews Small-Scale Substructures in Protoplanetary Disks 9h30 Ruth Murray-Clay Pebble Accretion in Protoplanetary Disks 10h00 Francoise Combes Dynamical Processes in Galaxies 10h30 Kathryn Johnston Physical Manifestations of Chaos and Regularity Around Galaxies 11h00 COFFEE 11h30 Scott Tremaine Statistical mechanics of self-gravitating N-body systems 12h00 Silvia Toonen Evolution & interaction in stellar binaries and multiples. 12h30 LUNCH FREE AFTERNOON FOR DISCUSSION/RECREATION
    [Show full text]
  • Respicite Astra: a Historic Journey in Astronomy Through Books
    0 Respicite Astra: A Historic Journey in Astronomy through Books RReessppiicciittee AAssttrraa A Historic Journey in Astronomy through Books The Astronomiicall Sociiety of Mallta The Natiionall Liibrary of Mallta The Astronomical Society of Malta The National Library of Malta 1 Respicite Astra: A Historic Journey in Astronomy through Books Respicite Astra A Historic Journey in Astronomy through Books Exhibition held between 25 September – 18 October 2010-09-21 at the National Library, Valletta, Malta on the occasion of Notte Bianca 2010 Introductory Text Mr Victor Farrugia Captions Mr Leonard Ellul Mercer – Pgs 23-24, 57 Mr Alexander Pace – Pgs 25-26, 58, 63, 70 Prof Frank Ventura – Pgs 4, 6-13, 15-18, 21, 27-31, 33, 35-38, 40, 42- 43, 45-48, 50-56, 60-62, 65-69, 72-76, 80, 85, 87, 93 Acknowledgements The Committee of the Astronomical Society of Malta would like to acknowledge the following persons for their kind and generous help in setting up this Exhibition at the Main Hall of the National Library starting on 25th September 2010 during the Notte Bianca event: Mr Fabio Agius (MaltaPost Philatelic Archives) Ms C Michelle Buhagiar (National Library of Malta) Ms Maroma Camilleri National Library of Malta) Mr Leonard Ellul Mercer (Personal capacity) Victor Farrugia (Astronomical Society of Malta) Mr Alexander Pace (Astronomical Society of Malta) Arch Alexei Pace (Astronomical Society of Malta) Ms Joanne Sciberras (National Library of Malta) Mr Tony Tanti (Astronomical Society of Malta) Prof Frank Ventura (University of Malta) Staff of the National Library of Malta Front Image Great Orion Nebula by Mr Leonard Ellul Mercer Production The Astronomical Society of Malta P.O.
    [Show full text]
  • 10. Scientific Programme 10.1
    10. SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME 10.1. OVERVIEW (a) Invited Discourses Plenary Hall B 18:00-19:30 ID1 “The Zoo of Galaxies” Karen Masters, University of Portsmouth, UK Monday, 20 August ID2 “Supernovae, the Accelerating Cosmos, and Dark Energy” Brian Schmidt, ANU, Australia Wednesday, 22 August ID3 “The Herschel View of Star Formation” Philippe André, CEA Saclay, France Wednesday, 29 August ID4 “Past, Present and Future of Chinese Astronomy” Cheng Fang, Nanjing University, China Nanjing Thursday, 30 August (b) Plenary Symposium Review Talks Plenary Hall B (B) 8:30-10:00 Or Rooms 309A+B (3) IAUS 288 Astrophysics from Antarctica John Storey (3) Mon. 20 IAUS 289 The Cosmic Distance Scale: Past, Present and Future Wendy Freedman (3) Mon. 27 IAUS 290 Probing General Relativity using Accreting Black Holes Andy Fabian (B) Wed. 22 IAUS 291 Pulsars are Cool – seriously Scott Ransom (3) Thu. 23 Magnetars: neutron stars with magnetic storms Nanda Rea (3) Thu. 23 Probing Gravitation with Pulsars Michael Kremer (3) Thu. 23 IAUS 292 From Gas to Stars over Cosmic Time Mordacai-Mark Mac Low (B) Tue. 21 IAUS 293 The Kepler Mission: NASA’s ExoEarth Census Natalie Batalha (3) Tue. 28 IAUS 294 The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Magnetism Bryan Gaensler (B) Wed. 29 IAUS 295 Black Holes in Galaxies John Kormendy (B) Thu. 30 (c) Symposia - Week 1 IAUS 288 Astrophysics from Antartica IAUS 290 Accretion on all scales IAUS 291 Neutron Stars and Pulsars IAUS 292 Molecular gas, Dust, and Star Formation in Galaxies (d) Symposia –Week 2 IAUS 289 Advancing the Physics of Cosmic
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Theory of Gravitational Radiation Or What Is a Gravitational Wave?
    Recent LIGO announcement Gravitational radiation theory: summary Prehistory: 1916-1956 History: 1957-1962 Towards a theory of gravitational radiation or What is a gravitational wave? Paweł Nurowski Center for Theoretical Physics Polish Academy of Sciences King’s College London, 28 April 2016 1/48 Recent LIGO announcement Gravitational radiation theory: summary Prehistory: 1916-1956 History: 1957-1962 Plan 1 Recent LIGO announcement 2 Gravitational radiation theory: summary 3 Prehistory: 1916-1956 4 History: 1957-1962 2/48 Recent LIGO announcement Gravitational radiation theory: summary Prehistory: 1916-1956 History: 1957-1962 LIGO detection: Its relevance the first detection of gravitational waves the first detection of a black hole; of a binary black-hole; of a merging process of black holes creating a new one; Kerr black holes exist; black holes with up to 60 Solar masses exist; the most energetic process ever observed important test of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity new window: a birth of gravitational wave astronomy 3/48 Recent LIGO announcement Gravitational radiation theory: summary Prehistory: 1916-1956 History: 1957-1962 LIGO detection: Its relevance the first detection of gravitational waves the first detection of a black hole; of a binary black-hole; of a merging process of black holes creating a new one; Kerr black holes exist; black holes with up to 60 Solar masses exist; the most energetic process ever observed important test of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity new window: a birth of gravitational wave astronomy
    [Show full text]
  • A Newly-Discovered Accurate Early Drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula
    Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage , 11(2), 107-115 (2008). A NEWLY-DISCOVERED ACCURATE EARLY DRAWING OF M51, THE WHIRLPOOL NEBULA William Tobin 6 rue Saint Louis, 56000 Vannes, France. E-mail: [email protected] and J.B. Holberg Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1541 East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: We have discovered a lost drawing of M51, the nebula in which spiral structure was first discovered by Lord Rosse. The drawing was made in April 1862 by Jean Chacornac at the Paris Observatory using Léon Foucault’s newly-completed 80-cm silvered-glass reflecting telescope. Comparison with modern images shows that Chacornac’s drawing was more accurate with respect to gross structure and showed fainter details than any other nineteenth century drawing, although its superiority would not have been apparent at the time without nebular photography to provide a standard against which to judge drawing quality. M51 is now known as the Whirlpool Nebula, but the astronomical appropriation of ‘whirlpool’ predates Rosse’s discovery. Keywords: reflecting telescopes, nebulae, spiral structure, Léon Foucault, Lord Rosse, M51, Whirlpool Nebula 1 REFLECTING TELESCOPES AND SPIRAL STRUCTURE The French physicist Léon Foucault (1819–1868) is the father of the reflecting telescope in its modern form, with large, optically-perfect, metallized glass or ceramic mirrors. Foucault achieved this breakthrough while working as ‘physicist’ at the Paris Observatory in the late 1850s. The largest telescope that he built (Foucault, 1862) had a silvered-glass, f/5.6 primary mirror of 80-cm diameter in a Newtonian configura- tion (see Figure 1).
    [Show full text]
  • Lars Hernquist and Volker Springel Receive $500,000 Gruber Cosmology Prize
    Media Contact: A. Sarah Hreha +1 (203) 432‐6231 [email protected] Online Newsroom: https://gruber.yale.edu/news‐media Lars Hernquist and Volker Springel Receive $500,000 Gruber Cosmology Prize Lars Hernquist Volker Springel New Haven, CT — The 2020 Gruber Cosmology Prize recognizes Lars Hernquist, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and Volker Springel, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, for their defining contributions to cosmological simulations, a method that tests existing theories of, and inspires new investigations into, the formation of structures at every scale from stars to galaxies to the universe itself. Hernquist and Springel will divide the $500,000 award, and each will receive a gold laureate pin at a ceremony that will take place later this year. The award recognizes their transformative work on structure formation in the universe, and development of numerical algorithms and community codes further used by many other researchers to significantly advance the field. Hernquist was a pioneer in cosmological simulations when he joined the fledgling field in the late 1980s, and since then he has become one of its most influential figures. Springel, who entered the field in 1998 and first partnered with Hernquist in the early 2000s, has written and applied several of the most widely used codes in cosmological research. Together Hernquist and Springel constitute, in the words of one Gruber Prize nominator, “one of the most productive collaborations ever in cosmology.” Computational simulations in cosmology begin with the traditional source of astronomical data: observations of the universe. Then, through a combination of theory and known physics that might approximate initial conditions, the simulations recreate the subsequent processes that would have led to the current structure.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bullard, Everett and Smith Reconstruction of the Circum-Atlantic Continents
    1 GENESIS OF A GEOPHYSICAL ICON: THE BULLARD, EVERETT AND SMITH RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CIRCUM-ATLANTIC CONTINENTS J. E. EVERETT Faculty of Economics and Commerce The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009 [email protected] A. G. SMITH Department of Earth Sciences, Sedgwick Museum, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, U.K. [email protected] ABSTRACT The first computer fit of the continents had its origins in a controversy over Warren Carey’s visual fit between South America and Africa. Sir Harold Jeffreys denied that there was a fit, but Sir Edward Bullard considered the fit to be impressive. Bullard suggested quantifying the fit to Jim Everett, a graduate student at the time. Everett did so, developing his own method from his mathematical background, and computed the fit for the South Atlantic. Alan Smith, then a research assistant, used his geological knowledge and worked with Everett to fit together all the circum-Atlantic continents. Thus Bullard had the idea of quantifying the fit, and Everett and Smith implemented it. Then Smith extended the method to fits beyond the Earth Sciences History Atlantic. The outcome owed much to Bullard’s leadership, and to the lively v. 27, no. 1, 2008 and open discussions that prevailed during coffee and tea at Madingley pp. Rise, which housed the Department of Geodesy and Geophysics of the University of Cambridge at that time. 1. INTRODUCTION Bullard, Everett and Smith’s (1965) computer fit of the circum-Atlantic continents has become something of a geophysical icon. It gave rise to new ideas and set new approaches in motion, whose consequences are still being worked out today.
    [Show full text]
  • The Quasi-Steady State Cosmology
    Acta Scientiarum 22(5):1241-1248, 2000. ISSN 1415-6814. The quasi-steady state cosmology Jayant V. Narlikar Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411 007. India. ABSTRACT. This paper begins with a discussion of the shortcomings of standard cosmology, and then outlines an alternative cosmology called the Quasi-Steady State Cosmology (QSSC). The theoretical framework and observational tests of the QSSC are next described. Finally some tests which can distinguish between the standard big bang cosmology and the QSSC are briefly mentioned. Key words: cosmological models, observational tests, alternative cosmologies, creation of matter, microwave background, light nuclear abundances. RESUMO. A cosmologia do estado quase-estacionário. D is cut e m-se em primeiro lugar as falhas na cosmologia oficial, seguido por uma breve descrição da cosmologia alternativa chamada Cosmologia do Estado Quase Constante. Descrevem-se também o arcabouço teórico e os testes referentes a CEQC. Por último, são mencionados os testes que testemunham a distinção entre a cosmologia oficial do Big Bang e a CEQC. Palavras-chave: modelos cosmológicos, testes de observação, cosmologias alternativas, criação de matéria, fundo de microondas, abundâncias nucleares de luz. Modern cosmology began in 1917 with particles moving at near-light speeds. They felt that Einstein's model of the universe in which the the physical conditions during a short era were ideal universe was assumed to be homogeneous and for nuclear fusion making all the chemical elements isotropic and also static. The general belief in a static from protons and neutrons. However, they soon universe in which the galaxies etc., are at rest was so encountered a basic difficulty that made it clear that strong that when in 1922 Aleksandr Friedmann this programme could not be carried out, because of proposed expanding models of the cosmos, they the absence of stable nuclei at mass numbers 5 and were largely ignored by everybody, including 8.
    [Show full text]