tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89811885935720557872024-02-20T03:16:13.671-05:00Today in AstronomyA daily blog on the history of astronomy in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 and beyond.Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.comBlogger246125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-58519780488154590512010-01-18T00:05:00.001-05:002010-01-18T13:24:27.554-05:00January 18: Arthur Scott King<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nap.edu/readingroom.php?book=biomems&page=aking.html"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaDhTr2DuHo0gRjG1n7dK6_P6mYZlS-W_dViF5Ts4QQ6x7nDfJnQt0XNPJnH3LKfKBHJVZ77_rZgmZpG8zxrMmUbRshU-iTtSZCDoU5RlFSDvhmHdzTVOGf3UpVQvuwQWYRQeEUIdvQbU/s200/arthur_king.GIF" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Arthur Scott King</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Scott_King">Arthur Scott King</a> was an American physicist and astrophysicist.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In 1895 Arthur graduated from Fresno High School, then attended the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Berkeley">University of California, Berkeley</a>. He developed an interest in physics, and in 1899 he was admitted into their graduate school. He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1903, the first ever Ph.D. in physics awarded by that university.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After winning a Whiting Fellowship, he spent two years in Germany, studying at Bonn and Berlin and travelling in Europe. His academic interests were focused on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy">spectroscopy</a>, and at the time these institutions were leaders in the field.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In 1905 he returned to Berkeley and became an instructor. The following year published a paper describing the use of an electric furnace for use in spectroscopy.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He was offered a position at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Wilson_Observatory">Mt. Wilson Observatory</a> in 1907, and took his leave from Berkeley. He spent much of the remainder of his career studying the spectra of elements and molecules, with particular focus on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element">rare earth elements</a>. He also performed studies of meteors, including their spectra and directional paths. In 1929, he collaborated with Dr. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Thayer_Birge">Raymond T. Birge</a> to discover the isotope <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-13">Carbon-13</a>, based on differences in the spectrum.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Between 1901 and his retirement he published well over 200 papers in scientific journals. He served as president of the American Meteorical Society for a period, and also as president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1941. In 1943 he retired, but he became involved in war research at CalTech. There he studied the ballistics of torpedoes launched from aircraft. </span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/King">King</a> on the far side of the Moon was co-named for him and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Skinner_King">Edward S. King</a>.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Today in Astronomy: </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://todayinastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-18-warren-de-la-rue.html">January 18: Warren De la Rue</a></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Astronomy Compendium: <a href="http://astronomycompendium.wikispaces.com/January+18">January 18</a></span><br />
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</div>Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-60517555094492786212010-01-16T00:05:00.001-05:002010-01-16T17:39:25.583-05:00January 16: Johannes Schöner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEfuEXgZ2aT2LOusLAYdcTCP0YVtKUkffo5DhyphenhyphenHrgcSVfhxYqyxIyTFvgwO1KaEXVvDnk6BG_MEdoY8GtOMWJ-nMecH-deaQt9D2W0P4lDNilxZuwXZmFnh7dbBeVSCSOog2hshOhh63o/s1600-h/Johannes_Schoner_Astronomer_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEfuEXgZ2aT2LOusLAYdcTCP0YVtKUkffo5DhyphenhyphenHrgcSVfhxYqyxIyTFvgwO1KaEXVvDnk6BG_MEdoY8GtOMWJ-nMecH-deaQt9D2W0P4lDNilxZuwXZmFnh7dbBeVSCSOog2hshOhh63o/s320/Johannes_Schoner_Astronomer_01.jpg" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Johannes Schöner</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Sch%C3%B6ner">Johannes Schöner</a> was a renowned and respected German polymath. It is best to refer to him using the usual 16th century Latin term "mathematicus", as the areas of study to which he devoted his life were very different from those now considered to be the domain of the mathematician. He was a priest, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, cosmographer, cartographer, mathematician, globe and scientific instrument maker and editor and publisher of scientific tests. </span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In his own time he enjoyed a European-wide reputation as an innovative and influential globe maker and cosmographer and as one of the continents leading and most authoritative astrologers. Today he is remembered as an influential pioneer in the history of globe making and as a man who played a significant role in the events that led up to the publishing of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus">Copernicus</a>' "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_revolutionibus">De revolutionibus</a>" in Nürnberg in 1543.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Schöner had made still unpublished data of Mercury observations from Walther available to Copernicus, 45 observations in total, 14 of them with longitude and latitude. Copernicus used three of them in "De revolutionibus", giving only longitudes, and falsely attributing them to Schöner. The values differed slightly from the ones published by Schöner in 1544.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In 1538, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Joachim_Rheticus">Georg Joachim Rheticus</a>, a young professor of mathematics at Wittenberg, stayed for some time with Schöner who convinced him to visit Nicolaus Copernicus in Frauenburg. In 1540, Rheticus dedicated the first published report of Copernicus work, the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narratio_prima">Narratio prima</a></i>, to Schöner. As this was well received, Copernicus finally agreed to publish his main work, and Rheticus prepared Copernicus' manuscript for printing.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A crater on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Mars">Mars</a> is named in his honor.</span><br />
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</div>Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-73699535499571524552010-01-12T00:05:00.005-05:002010-01-12T00:05:00.863-05:00January 12: Royal Aeronautical Society<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.raes.org.uk/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfn5p0FXI_GUaudULpreNIJ3fn3ELdjl6j6NleMrrWzE0VM2m1Cb3X_UiKsVXy1Hr1fu3vMPiEYeAp1u_qaDhn-Rq4j4DlJJEgF1k9J4N8HNQFuuup1hR95uMxlTvMbyAo2BzOuSEIhqg/s320/RAeS_logo.gif" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>The Royal Aeronautical Society</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Founded in 1866 the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aeronautical_Society">Royal Aeronautical Society</a>, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace">aerospace</a> community.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The objectives of The Royal Aeronautical Society include; to support and maintain the highest professional standards in all aerospace disciplines; to provide a unique source of specialist information and a local forum for the exchange of ideas; and to exert influence in the interests of aerospace in both the public and industrial arenas.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Throughout the world's aerospace community the name of The Royal Aeronautical Society is widely known and respected. Many practitioners from all disciplines within the aerospace industry use the Society's designatory post-nominals such as FRAeS, CRAeS, MRAeS, AMRAeS, and ARAeS (incorporating the former graduate grade, GradRAeS).</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Staff of the Royal Aeronautical Society are based at the Society's headquarters at No.4 Hamilton Place, London. Although centred in the United Kingdom, the Royal Aeronautical Society is a worldwide society with an international network of 63 branches.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">January 12: <a href="http://todayinastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-12-sergey-pavlovich-korolyov.html">Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov</a></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Astronomy Compendium: <a href="http://astronomycompendium.wikispaces.com/January+12">January 12</a></span><br />
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</div>Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-44694344874894393242010-01-11T00:05:00.003-05:002010-01-11T00:05:00.490-05:00January 11: Lunar Prospector<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVNPF_Ci4QCxejtrhmbd07NS3IumGlz22R2qEtYKQnJh897wsMQMRWM49yHmE22UP4MqjRdejXe63pZGQhNwOKeEoQDn53UTLwhU2g44Mpb9V2oz2QHYnnFXYGnYGrpsoL-nnLN9NMHQ/s1600-h/Lunar_Prospector_orbiter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVNPF_Ci4QCxejtrhmbd07NS3IumGlz22R2qEtYKQnJh897wsMQMRWM49yHmE22UP4MqjRdejXe63pZGQhNwOKeEoQDn53UTLwhU2g44Mpb9V2oz2QHYnnFXYGnYGrpsoL-nnLN9NMHQ/s320/Lunar_Prospector_orbiter.jpg" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Lunar Prospector entered lunar orbit on January 11, 1998.</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Prospector">Lunar Prospector</a> mission was the third selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition and possible polar ice deposits, measurements of magnetic and gravity fields, and study of lunar outgassing events. The mission ended July 31, 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a permanently shadowed area of the <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Shoemaker">Shoemaker</a> crater near the lunar south pole in an unsuccessful attempt to detect the presence of water.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Data from the mission allowed the construction of a detailed map of the surface composition of the Moon, and helped to improve understanding of the origin, evolution, current state, and resources of the Moon. Several articles on the scientific results were published in the journal Science.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/">Lunar Prospector</a> was managed out of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Ames_Research_Center">NASA Ames Research Center</a> with the prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The Principal Investigator for the mission was Dr. Alan Binder. </span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The probe also carried a small amount of the remains of Dr. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Shoemaker">Eugene Shoemaker</a> (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997), astronomer and co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, to the moon for a space burial.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">January 11: <a href="http://todayinastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/01/today-in-astronomy-january-11.html">William Tyler Olcott</a></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Astronomy Compendium: <a href="http://astronomycompendium.wikispaces.com/January+11">January 11</a></span><br />
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<div></div><div></div><div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 45px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
</div>Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-75631805589556517262010-01-10T00:05:00.048-05:002010-01-10T10:56:00.779-05:00January 10: Eugène Joseph Delporte<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amor_asteroid"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVd6CkG_xV2fhDiiW3YJ8OiNijkx28zAm8ySyQVBgJY0xvrkQJjOyJPjlFcRSlxnIEtjfnBZuDf5__Cc7JcLYextRdvVqmGpeIIauc81_3OFE5IrfyfoJXlSiTNkh5KnkWLakAul2PtzE/s200/Delporte-Minor_Planets-Amor.svg.png" /></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>T<span style="font-size: small;">he Amor group of asteroids.</span></i></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Eugène Joseph Delporte</b></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>January 10, 1872 – October 19, 1955</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Delporte">Eugène Joseph Delporte</a> was a Belgian astronomer.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He discovered a total of sixty-six asteroids. Notable discoveries include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1221_Amor">1221 Amor</a> (which lent its name to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amor_asteroid">Amor asteroids</a>) and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_asteroid">Apollo asteroid</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2101_Adonis">2101 Adonis</a>. He discovered or co-discovered some comets as well, including periodic comet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57P/du_Toit-Neujmin-Delporte">57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte</a>. </span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He worked in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observatoire_Royal_de_Belgique">Observatoire Royal de Belgique</a> (Belgian Royal Observatory), situated in the town of Uccle (after which the asteroid 1276 Ucclia is named).</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In 1930 he fixed the modern boundaries between all of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation">constellations</a> in the sky, along lines of right ascension and declination for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epoch_(astronomy)">epoch</a> B1875.0.</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Delporte">Delporte</a> is named in his honor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">January 10: <a href="http://todayinastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/01/today-in-astronomy-simon-marius_10.html">Simon Marius</a></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Astronomy Compendium: <a href="http://astronomycompendium.wikispaces.com/January+10">January 10</a></span><br />
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<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 45px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-34190609775553021162010-01-08T00:05:00.001-05:002010-01-08T18:16:50.981-05:00January 8: Johannes Fabricius<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1sHXigfNxd_M7KBPCV2M7KpANdsxWKizI9ccOumKsoTbKaGIMrj2kRnHnTDkQqd4JcUI-b8XqEMLKnmrgRR7hRtltzIBsUOFY9zgzq4bbgnRSWYZI4EMMO2uYiSaf2KY8Rq99jqNRdzM/s1600-h/Fabricius_Johannes.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1sHXigfNxd_M7KBPCV2M7KpANdsxWKizI9ccOumKsoTbKaGIMrj2kRnHnTDkQqd4JcUI-b8XqEMLKnmrgRR7hRtltzIBsUOFY9zgzq4bbgnRSWYZI4EMMO2uYiSaf2KY8Rq99jqNRdzM/s320/Fabricius_Johannes.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424509150609289154" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>Johannes Fabricius</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>January 8, 1587 – March 19, 1616</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Fabricius">Johannes Fabricius</a>, eldest son of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fabricius">David Fabricius</a> (1564-1617), was a German astronomer and a discoverer of sunspots, independently of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei">Galileo Galilei</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Johannes was born in Resterhafe (Friesland). He returned from university in the Netherlands with telescopes that he and his father turned on the Sun. Despite the difficulties of observing the sun directly, they noted the existence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspot">sunspots</a>, the first confirmed instance of their observation (though unclear statements in East Asian annals suggest that Chinese astronomers may have discovered them with the naked eye previously, and Fabricius may have noticed them himself without a telescope a few years before). The pair soon invented <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura">camera obscura</a> telescopy so as to save their eyes and get a better view of the solar disk, and observed that the spots moved. They would appear on the eastern edge of the disk, steadily move to the western edge, disappear, then reappear at the east again after the passage of the same amount of time that it had taken for it to cross the disk in the first place.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Copies of a map he made of Frisia in 1589 are also still extant. He is also named in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne">Jules Verne</a>'s <i>From the Earth to the Moon</i> as someone who claimed to have seen lunar inhabitants through his telescope, though that particular fact is merely part of Verne's fiction. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Fabricius">Fabricius</a> is named after his father, David Fabricius.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;">January 8: <a href="http://todayinastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/01/today-in-astronomy-galileo_09.html">Galileo Galilei</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">January 8: <a href="http://todayinastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/01/today-in-astronomy-stephen-hawking_08.html">Stephen Hawking</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Astronomy Compendium: <a href="http://astronomycompendium.wikispaces.com/January+8">January 8</a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-33253785271038058622010-01-07T00:05:00.002-05:002010-01-07T10:33:21.403-05:00January 7: Francesco Carlini<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxd_UirwX4i-F9k07IRMOI-xHYWDubXdLUDjuSp3kd41l2az0VFGcfKd6DRXYxz2uxu9uqRATRKRYrxWYupXBFQ8VuW6bqnx8J1Y9BadXe7SNYvrfUm1ozNzshCo54qo4b9_PSleeJKco/s1600-h/carlini-lo-iv_134_h1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 106px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxd_UirwX4i-F9k07IRMOI-xHYWDubXdLUDjuSp3kd41l2az0VFGcfKd6DRXYxz2uxu9uqRATRKRYrxWYupXBFQ8VuW6bqnx8J1Y9BadXe7SNYvrfUm1ozNzshCo54qo4b9_PSleeJKco/s320/carlini-lo-iv_134_h1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424015741271471026" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-style: italic; ">Carlini crater on the Moon</span></div></span><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Francesco Carlini</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">January 7, 1783 – August 29, 1862</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Carlini">Francesco Carlini</a> was an Italian astronomer. </div></span><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: justify;">Born in Milan, he became director of the observatory there in 1832. He published <i>Nuove tavole de moti apparenti del sole</i> in 1832. In 1810, he had already published <i>Esposizione di un nuovo metodo di construire le taole astronomiche applicato alle tavole del sole</i>. Together with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Antonio_Amedeo_Plana">Giovanni Antonio Amedeo Plana</a>, he participated in a geodetic project in Austria and Italy. During this trip in 1821 he took pendulum measurements on top of Mount Cenis, Italy, from which he calculated one of the first estimates of the density and mass of the Earth.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Carlini">Carlini</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">January 7: <a href="http://todayinastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/01/today-in-astronomy_06.html">Jovian Moons</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Astronomy Compendium: <a href="http://astronomycompendium.wikispaces.com/January+7">January 7</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" /></div></div>Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-22365997782040566612009-12-20T00:05:00.001-05:002009-12-20T13:54:01.551-05:00December 20: Walter Sydney Adams<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJS7wnelCIUu9MuRf_ToxWC362MTwvKqTBKlKLtZZcZeTgGz2WIShNgBxm4aOA1wXwXDneYKbvLFVNDqCY1269fuNN-Iya76L1gklrhz_9aDPBdciI24SURoThXStA-UcFcHQNO736n_M/s1600-h/Walter_Sydney_Adams.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 201px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJS7wnelCIUu9MuRf_ToxWC362MTwvKqTBKlKLtZZcZeTgGz2WIShNgBxm4aOA1wXwXDneYKbvLFVNDqCY1269fuNN-Iya76L1gklrhz_9aDPBdciI24SURoThXStA-UcFcHQNO736n_M/s320/Walter_Sydney_Adams.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417391234392696322" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Walter Sydney Adams</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">December 20, 1876 – May 11, 1956</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Sydney_Adams">Walter Sydney Adams</a> was an American astronomer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was born in Antioch, Syria to missionary parents, and was brought to the U.S. in 1885. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1898, then continued his education in Germany. After returning to the U.S., he began a career in Astronomy that culminated when he became director of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wilson_Observatory">Mount Wilson Observatory</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His primary interest was the study of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_spectra">stellar spectra</a>. He worked on solar spectroscopy and co-discovered a relationship between the relative intensities of certain spectral lines and the absolute magnitude of a star. He was able to demonstrate that spectra could be used to determine whether a star was a giant or a dwarf. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1915 he began a study of the companion of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius">Sirius</a> and found that despite a size only slightly larger than the Earth, the surface of the star was brighter per unit area than the Sun and it was about as massive. Such a star later came to be known as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf">white dwarf</a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Along with Theodore Dunham, he discovered the strong presence of carbon dioxide in the infrared spectrum of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus">Venus</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Adams received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1917), the Henry Draper Medal (1918), the Bruce Medal (1928) and the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1947).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The asteroid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3145_Walter_Adams">3145 Walter Adams</a> and a crater on Mars are named in his honor. The crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Adams">Adams</a> on the Moon is jointly named after him, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Couch_Adams">John Couch Adams</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hitchcock_Adams">Charles Hitchcock Adams</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-20043001968844481392009-12-19T00:05:00.003-05:002009-12-19T00:05:00.609-05:00December 19: Albert Michelson<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpJM8PfoYyDg2I6BKk0HYMAURvINHFVdTKCJHRpna5tmtHjQtiaZlX80itG-Ei7t3rQidviJfnY-HndG-ojhfjUhBICdcf_5EZRUxCass4Gt53pSdJhIFEZv_SgTWaJdHOY-US5bNRa8/s1600-h/405px-Albert_Abraham_Michelson2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpJM8PfoYyDg2I6BKk0HYMAURvINHFVdTKCJHRpna5tmtHjQtiaZlX80itG-Ei7t3rQidviJfnY-HndG-ojhfjUhBICdcf_5EZRUxCass4Gt53pSdJhIFEZv_SgTWaJdHOY-US5bNRa8/s320/405px-Albert_Abraham_Michelson2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416605238025348802" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Albert Michelson</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">December 19, 1852 – May 9, 1931</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Albert Abraham Michelson was an American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light">speed of light</a> and especially for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment">Michelson-Morley experiment</a>. In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. He became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in sciences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Michelson was born in Strzelno, Provinz Posen in the Kingdom of Prussia (now Poland). He moved to the United States with his parents in 1855, when he was two years old. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Ulysses S. Grant awarded Michelson a special appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1869. During his four years as a midshipman at the Academy, Michelson excelled in optics, heat and climatology as well as drawing. After his graduation in 1873 and two years at sea, he returned to the Academy in 1875 to become an instructor in physics and chemistry until 1879. In 1879, he was posted to the Nautical Almanac Office, Washington, to work with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Newcomb">Simon Newcomb</a>, but in the following year, he obtained leave of absence to continue his studies in Europe. He visited the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, and the Collège de France and École Polytechnique in Paris.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Michelson was fascinated with the sciences and the problem of measuring the speed of light in particular. While at Annapolis, he conducted his first experiments of the speed of light, as part of a class demonstration in 1877. After two years of studies in Europe, he resigned from the Navy in 1881. In 1883 he accepted a position as professor of physics at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio and concentrated on developing an improved interferometer. In 1887 he and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Morley">Edward Morley</a> carried out the famous Michelson-Morley experiment which seemed to rule out the existence of the aether. He later moved on to use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_interferometer">astronomical interferometers</a> in the measurement of stellar diameters and in measuring the separations of binary stars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1907, Michelson had the honor of being the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and meteorological investigations carried out with their aid". He also won the Copley Medal in 1907, the Henry Draper Medal in 1916 and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1923. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Michelson">Michelson</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-3898876713517186172009-12-18T00:05:00.003-05:002009-12-18T09:28:57.071-05:00December 18: Gottfried Kirch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOsVFr1_94RPp60hzXtqb7uoHi3Q6txIU4LJAVvLpbGI9MSrDY5-URLtaDIWEiLZrzw3yC546aGUiQTNkerdrVpE1cfjMY09SD4LUkkONomul5ZSwu8xRUdLkpb6dluEEWR_zCDYn4bSQ/s1600-h/Kirch2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 203px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOsVFr1_94RPp60hzXtqb7uoHi3Q6txIU4LJAVvLpbGI9MSrDY5-URLtaDIWEiLZrzw3yC546aGUiQTNkerdrVpE1cfjMY09SD4LUkkONomul5ZSwu8xRUdLkpb6dluEEWR_zCDYn4bSQ/s320/Kirch2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416580421563230338" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Gottfried Kirch</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">December 18, 1639 — July 25, 1710</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Gottfried Kirch was a German astronomer. He first worked as a calendar-maker in Saxonia and Franconia. He began to learn astronomy in Jena, and studied under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hevelius">Hevelius</a> in Danzig. In Danzig in 1667, Kirch published calendars and built several telescopes and instruments.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1686, Kirch went to Leipzig. There, he observed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_comet">great comet</a> of 1686, together with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Arnold">Christoph Arnold</a>. At Leipzig, Kirch also met his second wife, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Margarethe_Kirch">Maria Winckelmann</a> (1670-1720), who had learned astronomy from Arnold. In 1688, he invented and charted the now obsolete constellation <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sceptrum_Brandenburgicum">Sceptrum Brandenburgicum</a>, the Brandenburg Scepter. Later, in 1699, he observed comet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55P/Tempel-Tuttle">55P/Tempel-Tuttle</a> but this observation was not recognized until later analysis by Joachim Schubart.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1700, Kirch was appointed by Frederick I of Prussia as the first astronomer of the <i>Prussian Royal Society of Sciences</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kirch studied the double star Mizar, and discovered both the Wild Duck Cluster (Messier 11) (1681) and Globular Cluster M5 (May 5, 1702). He also discovered the variability of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_variable">Mira variable</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Cygni">Chi Cygni</a> in 1686.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Kirch">Kirch</a> and the asteroid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6841_Gottfriedkirch">6841 Gottfriedkirch</a> are named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-64033804508018761902009-12-06T00:05:00.002-05:002009-12-06T00:05:00.084-05:00December 6: Yoshio Nishina<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLdduN73wpS_ydDUwCZLj831_VtTT3hPMmsRhJ3y1BypMeJE2P4kZDC08o1Tey912zkmcOthIfyM3hwHbszEYnwi-QyIYp1izo3ywgR-5F1GEFStQijdquKGqFJGAnPYpxNLb6duwlbgE/s1600-h/hst_nishina.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLdduN73wpS_ydDUwCZLj831_VtTT3hPMmsRhJ3y1BypMeJE2P4kZDC08o1Tey912zkmcOthIfyM3hwHbszEYnwi-QyIYp1izo3ywgR-5F1GEFStQijdquKGqFJGAnPYpxNLb6duwlbgE/s320/hst_nishina.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411402747446946066" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Yoshio Nishina</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">December 6, 1890 – January 10, 1951</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshio_Nishina">Yoshio Nishina</a> was the founding father of modern physics research in Japan. He co-authored the well-known <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein-Nishina_Formula">Klein-Nishina Formula</a>. He was a principal investigator of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIKEN">RIKEN</a> and mentored generations of physicists, including two Novel Laureates: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideki_Yukawa">Hideki Yukawa</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin-Itiro_Tomonaga">Sin-Itiro Tomonaga</a>. During World War II he was the head of the Japanese atomic program. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nishina was born in Satosho, Okayama and graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in 1918. After graduation, he became a staff member at RIKEN. In 1921 he was sent to Europe for research. He visited some European universities and institutions, including Cavendish Laboratory, Georg August University of Göttingen, and University of Copenhagen. In Copenhagen he did research with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr">Niels Bohr</a> and they became good friends. In 1928 he wrote a paper on incoherent or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton_scattering">Compton scattering</a> with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Klein">Oskar Klein</a> in Copenhagen, from which the Klein-Nishina formula derives.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the same year he returned to Japan, where he endeavored to foster an environment for the study of quantum mechanics. He invited some Western scholars to Japan including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg">Heisenberg</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac">Dirac</a> and Bohr to stimulate Japanese physicists. He detected what turned out to be the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon">muon</a> in cosmic rays, independently of Anderson et al.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His research was concerned with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray">cosmic rays</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_accelerator">particle accelerator</a> development.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1946 he was awarded the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Culture">Order of Culture</a> by the Emperor of Japan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Nishina">Nishina</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-32091180937448586882009-12-05T00:05:00.000-05:002009-12-05T00:05:00.163-05:00December 5: Werner Heisenberg<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKnrBSVNS09XEjJIszz2Lex8ZsM9a_aRcMV4YudGXEVC8mpLN4ubTVU_2m2AjxRILZT6g2QIidOe7VcLKDKKk9kHIYyZ_rQp35G33tXNFz7CIRiITP7Rc_SM83SZ1n65EWsuc-r8zIXjg/s1600-h/Werner_Heisenberg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 202px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKnrBSVNS09XEjJIszz2Lex8ZsM9a_aRcMV4YudGXEVC8mpLN4ubTVU_2m2AjxRILZT6g2QIidOe7VcLKDKKk9kHIYyZ_rQp35G33tXNFz7CIRiITP7Rc_SM83SZ1n65EWsuc-r8zIXjg/s320/Werner_Heisenberg.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411394034983623314" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Werner Heisenberg</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenberg">Werner Heisenberg</a> was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics">quantum mechanics</a> and is best known for asserting the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle">uncertainty principle</a> of quantum theory. In addition, he also made important contributions to nuclear physics, quantum field theory, and particle physics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Heisenberg, along with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Born">Max Born</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascual_Jordan">Pascual Jordan</a>, set forth the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_mechanics">matrix formulation</a> of quantum mechanics in 1925. Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following the war, he was appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics, which was soon thereafter renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics. He was director of the institute until it was moved to Munich in 1958, when it was expanded and renamed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck_Society">Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Heisenberg was also president of the German Research Council, chairman of the Commission for Atomic Physics, chairman of the Nuclear Physics Working Group, and president of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Heisenberg studied under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Sommerfeld">Arnold Sommerfeld</a>, who was born on this date in 1868. Sommerfeld was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and groomed a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Sommerfeld#Munich">large number of students</a> for the new era of theoretical physics. He introduced the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant">fine-structure constant</a> into quantum mechanics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-75451686273582308782009-12-04T00:05:00.002-05:002009-12-04T09:25:52.545-05:00December 4: Wilhelm Tempel<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqSN2buzPn_IVeRFhHJ9eC-t6J_aDAEVlapWkFT-E0mQ5fRZPGpi3QrNtHsMON8rqaPuYyRukzMB3x02tllO-UENfwCJ4XkNkJy9By4Y6Wa1drNpFzqwRA8BVtfQM_6l2_9yfr4RcHU0/s1600-h/Ernst_Wilhelm_Leberecht_Tempel.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqSN2buzPn_IVeRFhHJ9eC-t6J_aDAEVlapWkFT-E0mQ5fRZPGpi3QrNtHsMON8rqaPuYyRukzMB3x02tllO-UENfwCJ4XkNkJy9By4Y6Wa1drNpFzqwRA8BVtfQM_6l2_9yfr4RcHU0/s320/Ernst_Wilhelm_Leberecht_Tempel.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411386935613959874" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">December 4, 1821 – March 16, 1889</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Wilhelm_Leberecht_Tempel">Wilhelm Tempel</a>, was a German astronomer who worked in Marseille until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, then later moved to Italy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was a prolific discoverer of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet">comets</a>, discovering or co-discovering 21 in all, including Comet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55P/Tempel-Tuttle">55P/Tempel-Tuttle</a>, now known to be the parent body of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonids">Leonid</a> meteor shower, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9P/Tempel">9P/Tempel</a>, the target of the NASA probe <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(space_mission)">Deep Impact</a> in 2005. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other periodic comets that bear his name include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10P/Tempel">10P/Tempel</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR">11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The asteroid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3808_Tempel">3808 Tempel</a> and the Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Tempel">Tempel</a> are named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-92088951832023035172009-11-20T00:05:00.003-05:002009-11-20T11:22:20.808-05:00November 20: Edwin Powell Hubble<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-IeuLxBCRszw7rP_wn2DEJLefW537gSqxSBekQ1u-vHYUfiCg3z-tOQa1x1oRfavatlpdhlm1excDG27_9MF7REVFW7h0TPiZJ_QFl4x8xXYKeRGE17qjNMuBbNW6z5rcx7a8efdgV4/s1600/Hubble.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 254px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-IeuLxBCRszw7rP_wn2DEJLefW537gSqxSBekQ1u-vHYUfiCg3z-tOQa1x1oRfavatlpdhlm1excDG27_9MF7REVFW7h0TPiZJ_QFl4x8xXYKeRGE17qjNMuBbNW6z5rcx7a8efdgV4/s320/Hubble.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406213384053388882" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Edwin Powell Hubble</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;">November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble">Edwin Hubble</a> was an American astronomer. He profoundly changed our understanding of the universe by demonstrating the existence of other galaxies besides the Milky Way. He also discovered that the degree of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift">redshift</a> observed in light coming from a galaxy increased in proportion to the distance of that galaxy from the Milky Way. This became known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble's_law">Hubble's law</a>, and would help establish that the known universe is expanding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1919, Hubble was offered a staff position in California by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ellery_Hale">George Ellery Hale</a>, the founder and director of the Carnegie Institution's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wilson_Observatory">Mount Wilson Observatory</a>, near Pasadena, California, where he remained on the staff until his death. Shortly before his death, Mount Palomar's giant 200-inch (5.1 m) reflector <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Telescope">Hale Telescope</a> was completed, and Hubble was the first astronomer to use it. Hubble continued his research at the Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar Observatories, where he remained active until his death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Edwin Hubble's arrival at Mount Wilson, California, in 1919 coincided roughly with the completion of the 100-inch (2.5 m) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wilson_Observatory#100_inch_.282.6_m.29_Hooker_telescope">Hooker Telescope</a>, then the world's largest telescope. At that time, the prevailing view of the cosmos was that the universe consisted entirely of the Milky Way Galaxy. Using the Hooker Telescope at Mt. Wilson, Hubble identified Cepheid variables (a kind of star; see also standard candle) in several spiral nebulae, including the Andromeda Nebula. His observations, made in 1922–1923, proved conclusively that these nebulae were much too distant to be part of the Milky Way and were, in fact, entire galaxies outside our own. This idea had been opposed by many in the astronomy establishment of the time, in particular by the Harvard University-based <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlow_Shapley">Harlow Shapley</a>. Hubble's discovery, announced on January 1, 1925, fundamentally changed the view of the universe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hubble also devised the most commonly used system for classifying galaxies, grouping them according to their appearance in photographic images. He arranged the different groups of galaxies in what became known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_sequence">Hubble sequence</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hubble was awarder the Bruce Medal (1938) and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1940).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Hubble">Hubble</a>, asteroid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2069_Hubble">2069 Hubble</a> and the orbiting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</a> are named in his honor.</div><br /><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-84047688835686970812009-10-30T00:05:00.001-04:002009-10-30T00:05:00.130-04:00October 30: Marcin Poczobutt<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTAz0s9m2n91ysT8UHp28pvceMeXPogePT6g8tao0DWyNTQOgsF0H3Plea3GnxmqJWPpKMx5VyEioQ21tcgQsD9JcAGB8EUnZdHkuXgjdAvBNQo07-JEc-nW4Aw3J-9_g0Pd-IQnFVx_M/s1600-h/Marcin_Poczobutt-Odlanicki.PNG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTAz0s9m2n91ysT8UHp28pvceMeXPogePT6g8tao0DWyNTQOgsF0H3Plea3GnxmqJWPpKMx5VyEioQ21tcgQsD9JcAGB8EUnZdHkuXgjdAvBNQo07-JEc-nW4Aw3J-9_g0Pd-IQnFVx_M/s320/Marcin_Poczobutt-Odlanicki.PNG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398215778477365906" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 30, 1728 – February 7, 1810</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcin_Odlanicki-Poczobutt">Marcin Poczobutt</a> was a Polish-Lithuanian astronomer, jesuit and mathematician.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He became mathematics professor and rector of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_University">Vilnius University</a> where he organized the construction of the university's observatory and the purchase of the equipment. He also made observations of solar and lunar eclipses, comets and asteroids. In addition, he made measurements of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)">Mercury</a> to compute an orbit, and also determined the geographic coordinates of locations in Lithuania, including Vilnius. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was granted the title of the King's Astronomer and became a member of the British <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Academy">Royal Academy</a> of Science.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Poczobutt">Poczobutt</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-39579139936438391472009-10-29T00:05:00.000-04:002009-10-29T09:42:09.788-04:00October 29: Richard Hawley Tucker<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOvI43cN7GD3jSL0XiSwM7Wn1ZyBCn6tjSE1daNHg7tBS_gyN3m4pPcAvOL62dUxQy8s_xFNj1vKiKucqRZ1Rc03NzYlBoena7ze1YEhyT4i89iqo9MBueJYwxyhO6Waq18EYw8qqzzo/s1600-h/RH_Tucker.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOvI43cN7GD3jSL0XiSwM7Wn1ZyBCn6tjSE1daNHg7tBS_gyN3m4pPcAvOL62dUxQy8s_xFNj1vKiKucqRZ1Rc03NzYlBoena7ze1YEhyT4i89iqo9MBueJYwxyhO6Waq18EYw8qqzzo/s320/RH_Tucker.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398014912837836642" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Richard Hawley Tucker</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 29, 1859 – March 31, 1952</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hawley_Tucker">Richard Tucker</a> was an American astronomer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was born in Wiscasset, Maine to a ship-owning and sea-faring family. After a brief stint at sea starting at age 14, he attended <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_University">Lehigh University</a> where he studied civil engineering but became interested in the study of astronomy. He graduated in 1879 and became an assistant at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Observatory">Dudley Observatory</a>. He remained there for four years, and briefly worked with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Coast_and_Geodetic_Survey">United States Coast and Geodetic Survey</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1883 he joined Lehigh as an instructor of mathematics and astronomy. A year later he was offered a position with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_National_Observatory">Argentine National Observatory</a>, where he would assist in a survey of the southern night sky. He remained there for nine years, then joined the staff of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_Observatory">Lick Observatory</a> in 1893. He remained at Lick until 1908, operating the Meridian Circle program to make precise measurements of star positions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1908 he would travel to San Louis, Argentina as part of an expedition to measure the positions of stars in the southern part of the sky. These measurements were to be incorporated into a catalog for Dudley Observatory. During his time there he made 20,800 observations of stars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After his work in Argentina, he returned to Lick Observatory. In 1914 he married Ruth Standen, a secretary at Lick. He remained at the observatory until he retired in 1926, when he became Astronomer Emeritus. He spent his retirement years in Palo Alto, California.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During his career he published fifty three scientific articles. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Tucker">Tucker</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-12627809911109916252009-10-27T00:05:00.001-04:002009-10-27T00:05:00.246-04:00October 27: Thomas Gwyn Elger<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Se2nxdCMQZ2HE7R6pscZtVg-ECExOdVQ6OZY36QN6JkgGNLjhzO0qNYvES_8nGWVU1PiiT_b7rVnSQ_8SNHNGqyVHFOh8s0ySjy-quEC9NFmbOgPnRsqIAESSYEEWmUWLrVG_-ufd1k/s1600-h/Elger_LPOD-2004-03-28b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Se2nxdCMQZ2HE7R6pscZtVg-ECExOdVQ6OZY36QN6JkgGNLjhzO0qNYvES_8nGWVU1PiiT_b7rVnSQ_8SNHNGqyVHFOh8s0ySjy-quEC9NFmbOgPnRsqIAESSYEEWmUWLrVG_-ufd1k/s320/Elger_LPOD-2004-03-28b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396895101441876466" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-style: italic; ">Image Credit: C.A. Wood Collection</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Thomas Gwyn Empy Elger</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 27, 1836 – January 9, 1897</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gwyn_Elger">Thomas Elger</a> was an English <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Lunar+Maps">lunar mapper</a> and the first director of the Lunar Section of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Astronomical_Association">British Astronomical Association</a> (BAA).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was born in Bedford, where the family had been established for several generations. His father Thomas Gwyn Elger (1794–April 4, 1841) was an architect and builder. Grandfather, father and son engaged in the town politics, and all held the post of mayor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He studied at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College_London">University College London</a> and adopted the profession of a civil engineer. He was engaged in several important works, including the Metropolitan Railway and the Severn Valley Railway. His surveys for railway construction in Holstein were put to a stop by the war with Prussia and Austria in 1864.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Soon afterwards he relinquished the active pursuit of his profession and devoted himself to scientific studies. He had developed a strong taste for astronomy already at an early age and erected his first observatory in Bedford. Elger observed with an 8.5 inch reflector. His sketches from 1884 to 1896 are now in the possession of the BAA. He is best known as a careful and indefatigable <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenographer">selenographer</a>, and for this work his artistic skill eminently qualified him.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He is most remembered for his book <i><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17712/17712.txt">The Moon: A full Description and Map of its Principal Physical Features</a></i>. Published in 1895, its maps are still <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Elger,+1895">highly regarded</a> by lunar observers due to their uncluttered nature.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Elger was member of several astronomical associations, as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Astronomical_Society">Royal Astronomical Society</a>, the short-lived <i>Selenographical Society</i> and the British Astronomical Association. Besides his astronomical work, he was an ardent archaeologist and founded the Bedfordshire Natural History Society and Field Club.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Elger">Elger</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" /></div>Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-17436074322971246572009-10-26T00:05:00.002-04:002009-10-26T01:18:50.837-04:00October 26: Lewis Boss<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1eLsRdIJOlNGgO9DwUWF5yYfdUkVcQUYNB-YLCumKaICq9FOhnhJrAdmERwYBwB_51ZnZzpG8eRRWQM7vARFUseSqVoIAAoVQfTcJ1irmrc7fzFcpWGRWwDgDOxu-zuQ40PKtFsTawU/s1600-h/Lewis_Boss.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 273px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1eLsRdIJOlNGgO9DwUWF5yYfdUkVcQUYNB-YLCumKaICq9FOhnhJrAdmERwYBwB_51ZnZzpG8eRRWQM7vARFUseSqVoIAAoVQfTcJ1irmrc7fzFcpWGRWwDgDOxu-zuQ40PKtFsTawU/s320/Lewis_Boss.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396652931410182338" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Lewis Boss</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 26, 1846 - October 12, 1912</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Boss">Lewis Boss</a> was an American astronomer. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1870 he graduated from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_College">Dartmouth College</a>, then went to work as a clerk for the U.S. Government. He served as an assistant astronomer for a government expedition to survey the U.S-Canadian border. In 1876 he became the director of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Observatory">Dudley Observatory</a> in Schenectady, New York.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He became editor of the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_Journal">Astronomical Journal</a></i> in 1909, but responsibility passed to his son, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Boss">Benjamin Boss</a>, upon his death in 1912. Benjamin continued to edit the journal until 1941.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lewis Boss is noted for his work in cataloguing the locations and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_motion">proper motions</a> of stars. He also led an <a href="http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004/Background/Infol2/EIS-F7.html">expedition to Chile</a> in 1882 to observe the transit of Venus, and also catalogued information concerning cometary orbits.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1910, he published <i>Preliminary General Catalogue of 6188 Stars for the Epoch 1900</i>, a compilation of the proper motions of stars. This catalog was later expanded after his death by his son Benjamin Boss. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His most significant discovery was the calculation of the convergent point of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyades_(star_cluster)">Hyades</a> star cluster.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Boss was awarded the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Medal_of_the_Royal_Astronomical_Society">Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society</a> in 1905.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Boss">Boss</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-8552126994800845642009-10-25T00:05:00.004-04:002009-10-25T11:57:07.365-04:00October 25: Henry Norris Russell<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOVOG1fhxPadzlkp6qFN-Ke896KqT6pjGP1mc-OXkdtxWdiFNnAkd_n51WcqtQmS4Z9Xa3-o2ZCxp1ELIfSSy_MDA9zFWA0L_fFO-BWNm5-8Jkn9t13JwYYd1YprNwtUCYyjcDEhug5-4/s1600-h/russell.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOVOG1fhxPadzlkp6qFN-Ke896KqT6pjGP1mc-OXkdtxWdiFNnAkd_n51WcqtQmS4Z9Xa3-o2ZCxp1ELIfSSy_MDA9zFWA0L_fFO-BWNm5-8Jkn9t13JwYYd1YprNwtUCYyjcDEhug5-4/s320/russell.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396562677198090018" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Henry Norris Russell</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Norris_Russell">Henry Norris Russell</a> was an American astronomer who, along with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejnar_Hertzsprung">Ejnar Hertzsprung</a>, developed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung-Russell_diagram">Hertzsprung-Russell diagram</a> (1910). In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he developed <i>Russell-Saunders coupling</i> which is also known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LS_coupling">LS coupling</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russell was born in 1877 in Oyster Bay, New York. He studied astronomy at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_University">Princeton University</a>, obtaining his B.A. in 1897 and his doctorate in 1899, studying under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Augustus_Young">Charles Augustus Young</a>. From 1903 to 1905, he worked at the Cambridge Observatory with Arthur Robert Hinks as a research assistant of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Institution_of_Washington">Carnegie Institution</a> and came under the strong influence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Darwin">George Darwin</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He returned to Princeton to become an instructor in astronomy (1905-1908), assistant professor (1908-1911), professor (1911-1927) and research professor (1927-1947). He was also the director of the Princeton University Observatory from 1912 to 1947.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He co-wrote an influential two-volume textbook in 1927 with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smith_Dugan">Raymond Smith Dugan</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Stewart">John Quincy Stewart</a>: <i>Astronomy: A Revision of Young’s Manual of Astronomy</i> (Ginn & Co., Boston, 1926–27, 1938, 1945). This became the standard astronomy textbook for about two decades. There were two volumes: the first was <i>The Solar System</i> and the second was <i>Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy</i>. The textbook popularized the idea that a star's properties (radius, surface temperature, luminosity, etc.) were largely determined by the star's mass and chemical composition, which became known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogt-Russell_theorem">Vogt-Russell theorem</a> (including Hermann Vogt who independently discovered the result). Since a star's chemical composition gradually changes with age (usually in a non-homogeneous fashion), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution">stellar evolution</a> results.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Russell">Russell</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-14556965257309489212009-10-24T00:05:00.003-04:002009-10-24T12:25:28.016-04:00October 24: Wilhelm Eduard Weber<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtWP7liSp-iKuLh7Y5ukfXhpJBowiP9hj4W22HeB2FYTpcTUMkWKDEu707605Z3YO1PE8JUg5t1httuKVEXvVfJ7h2W9PaQ-nGBk-IU2cAl15W8NhVmBF64KveMSZf_d24a9jzcEBzwc/s1600-h/Wilhelm_Eduard_Weber_II.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtWP7liSp-iKuLh7Y5ukfXhpJBowiP9hj4W22HeB2FYTpcTUMkWKDEu707605Z3YO1PE8JUg5t1httuKVEXvVfJ7h2W9PaQ-nGBk-IU2cAl15W8NhVmBF64KveMSZf_d24a9jzcEBzwc/s320/Wilhelm_Eduard_Weber_II.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396199828902519570" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Wilhelm Eduard Weber</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 24, 1804 – June 23, 1891</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Eduard_Weber">Wilhelm Weber</a> was a German physicist and, together with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss">Carl Friedrich Gauss</a>, inventor of the first electromagnetic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph">telegraph</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During 1831, on the recommendation of Carl Friedrich Gauss, he was hired by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_G%C3%B6ttingen">University of Göttingen</a> as professor of physics, at the age of twenty-seven. His lectures were interesting, instructive, and suggestive. Weber thought that, in order to thoroughly understand physics and apply it to daily life, mere lectures, though illustrated by experiments, were insufficient, and he encouraged his students to experiment themselves, free of charge, in the college laboratory. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As a student of twenty years he, with his brother, Ernst Heinrich Weber, Professor of Anatomy at Leipzig, had written a book on the <i>Wave Theory and Fluidity</i>, which brought its authors a considerable reputation. Acoustics was a favourite science of his, and he published numerous papers upon it in <i>Poggendorffs Annalen</i>, Schweigger's <i>Jahrbücher für Chemie und Physik</i>, and the musical journal <i>Carcilia</i>. The 'mechanism of walking in mankind' was another study, undertaken in conjunction with his younger brother, Eduard Weber. These important investigations were published between the years 1825 and 1838. Gauss and Weber constructed the first electromagnetic telegraph during 1833, which connected the observatory with the institute for physics in Göttingen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dismissed by the Hanoverian Government for his liberal political opinions, Weber travelled for a time, visiting England, among other countries, and became professor of physics in Leipzig from 1843 to 1849, when he was reinstalled at Göttingen. One of his most important works was the <i>Atlas des Erdmagnetismus</i> ("atlas of geomagnetism"), a series of magnetic maps, and it was chiefly through his efforts that magnetic observatories were instituted. He studied magnetism with Gauss, and during 1864 published his <i>Electrodynamic Proportional Measures</i> containing a system of absolute measurements for electric currents, which forms the basis of those in use. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was elected a foreign member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Swedish_Academy_of_Sciences">Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences</a> during 1855.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Weber">Weber</a> and the SI unit of magnetic flux, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber_(unit)">weber</a> (symbol: Wb) are named in his honor. He is also known for first use of 'c' for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light">speed of light</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-69152317252806031572009-10-23T00:05:00.000-04:002009-10-25T21:39:41.210-04:00October 23: Gustav Spörer<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fmiZWXOvdS2T-AZbvZEM_JGBWfh_IQVC9UydOo5HYe4JirzFGuHnk5vQXU7HqRfIFa5mOxR0Sl0wJ1c_DDOo8ldMGNCSrLa78Vj25OSGV0sBGDRKPhn3DOO-xfMTG6VbK2La5MB6n2U/s1600-h/GSpoerer.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fmiZWXOvdS2T-AZbvZEM_JGBWfh_IQVC9UydOo5HYe4JirzFGuHnk5vQXU7HqRfIFa5mOxR0Sl0wJ1c_DDOo8ldMGNCSrLa78Vj25OSGV0sBGDRKPhn3DOO-xfMTG6VbK2La5MB6n2U/s320/GSpoerer.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396715052569365778" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Friederich Wilhelm Gustav Spörer</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 23, 1822 – July 7, 1895</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Sp%C3%B6rer">Gustav Spörer</a> was a German astronomer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He is noted for his studies of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspots">sunspots</a> and sunspot cycles. In this regard he is often mentioned together with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Maunder">Edward Maunder</a>. Spörer was the first to note a prolonged period of low sunspot activity from 1645 to 1715. This period is known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum">Maunder Minimum</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Spörer was a contemporary of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Christopher_Carrington">Richard Christopher Carrington</a>, an English astronomer. Carrington is generally credited with discovering <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sp%C3%B6rer's_law">Spörer's law</a>, which governs the variation of sunspot latitudes during the course of a solar cycle. Spörer added to Carrington's observations of sunspot drift and is sometimes credited with the discovery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sp%C3%B6rer_minimum">Spörer minimum</a> was a period of low sunspot activity from roughly 1420 to 1570.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lunar crater <a href="http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Sp%C3%B6rer">Spörer</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-10885192117532668022009-10-22T00:05:00.001-04:002009-10-25T21:19:39.367-04:00October 22: Albert Whitford<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgntRNfs-4E2VnnDUAxoFNEwWq53lMkmHQwc0JY3DJ46O573ZJ81X9W6Zrv5RtKPxQ7CT7K2_-Mww7regkPZBlUNzukX03JhwczTfUJmY4Hu3e9MdskyNW6dsdkY00yYyQxVGsPPHCcY/s1600-h/Whitford.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 217px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgntRNfs-4E2VnnDUAxoFNEwWq53lMkmHQwc0JY3DJ46O573ZJ81X9W6Zrv5RtKPxQ7CT7K2_-Mww7regkPZBlUNzukX03JhwczTfUJmY4Hu3e9MdskyNW6dsdkY00yYyQxVGsPPHCcY/s320/Whitford.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396709878657302594" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Albert Edward Whitford</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 22, 1905 – March 28, 2002</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Edward_Whitford">Albert Whitford</a> was an American astronomer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whitford was born in Milton, Wisconsin and attended Milton College. He received his PhD from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison">University of Wisconsin–Madison</a>. He served as the director of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washburn_Observatory">Washburn Observatory</a> from 1948 to 1958. From 1958 to 1968 he was the director of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_Observatory">Lick Observatory</a>. Later he served on the faculties of both the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whitford was a pioneer in the field of photoelectric <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photometry_(astronomy)">photometry</a>, greatly improving sensitivity. The <i>Whitford reddening curve</i>, quantifying the interstellar absorption of light, was important in the mapping of the distribution of stars in the Milky Way. He also studied the stars in galactic nuclear <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulge_(astronomy)">bulges</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1986 Whitford received the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Norris_Russell_Lectureship">Henry Norris Russell</a> Lectureship and in 1996 he was awarded the <a href="http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Whitford/index.html">Bruce Medal</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The asteroid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2301_Whitford">2301 Whitford</a> is named in his honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-86664220286448204712009-10-20T00:05:00.003-04:002009-10-20T00:05:00.292-04:00October 20: Christopher Wren<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1sM6Coi9rfqbY-y_3eNw7Y73X98qeHdAklw_P-vcsT6W_WUD3R4XibT8aKz3YthFeMdahuaQ89RaFeUfFVISiaFuwwBmMzso5lF_bCAuYrrwu1t0PF5QpOL0V1b3cQ9HPliku0aeRLA/s1600-h/Christopher_Wren_by_Godfrey_Kneller_1711.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 318px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1sM6Coi9rfqbY-y_3eNw7Y73X98qeHdAklw_P-vcsT6W_WUD3R4XibT8aKz3YthFeMdahuaQ89RaFeUfFVISiaFuwwBmMzso5lF_bCAuYrrwu1t0PF5QpOL0V1b3cQ9HPliku0aeRLA/s320/Christopher_Wren_by_Godfrey_Kneller_1711.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394490039469055570" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Sir Christopher Wren</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 20, 1632 – February 25, 1723</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Wren">Christopher Wren</a> was one of the best known and highest acclaimed English architects in history, responsible for rebuilding 55 churches in the City of London after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London">Great Fire</a> in 1666, including his masterpiece <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul's_Cathedral">St Paul's Cathedral</a>, completed in 1710.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Educated in Latin and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelian_physics">Aristotelian physics</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford">University of Oxford</a>, Wren was a notable astronomer, geometer, mathematician-physicist as well as an architect. He was a founder of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society">Royal Society</a> (president 1680–82), and his scientific work was highly regarded by Sir <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton">Isaac Newton</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal">Blaise Pascal</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of Wren's friends, another great scientist and architect in his time, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hooke">Robert Hooke</a> said of him "Since the time of Archimedes there scarce ever met in one man in so great perfection such a mechanical hand and so philosophical mind."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When a fellow of All Souls, Wren constructed a transparent beehive for scientific observation; he began observing the moon, which was to lead to the invention of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filar_micrometer">micrometers</a> for the telescope. He experimented on terrestrial magnetism and had taken part in medical experiments, performing the first successful injection of a substance into the bloodstream (of a dog).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Gresham College, he did experiments involving determining longitude through magnetic variation and through lunar observation to help with navigation, and helped construct a 35-foot (11 m) telescope with Sir Paul Neile. Wren also studied and improved the microscope and telescope at this time. He had also been making observations of the planet Saturn from around 1652 with the aim of explaining its appearance. His hypothesis was written up in <i>De corpore saturni</i> but before the work was published, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens">Huygens</a> presented his theory of the rings of Saturn. Immediately Wren recognized this as a better hypothesis than his own and <i>De corpore saturni</i> was never published. In addition, he constructed an exquisitely detailed lunar model and presented it to the king. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A year into Wren's appointment as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savilian_Chair_of_Astronomy">Savilian Professor</a> in Oxford, the Royal Society was created and Wren became an active member. As a Savilian Professor, Wren studied thoroughly in mechanics, especially in elastic collisions and pendulum motions, which he studied extensively. He also directed his far-ranging intelligence to the study of meteorology, and fabricated a "weather-clock" that recorded temperature, humidity, rainfall and barometric pressure, which could be used to predict the weather. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another topic to which Wren contributed was optics. He published a description of an engine to create perspective drawings and he discussed the grinding of conical lenses and mirrors. Out of this work came another of Wren's important mathematical results, namely that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperboloid">hyperboloid</a> of revolution is a ruled surface. These results were published in 1669. In subsequent years, Wren continued with his work with the Royal Society, although after the 1680s his scientific interests seem to have waned: no doubt his architectural and official duties absorbed all his time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mentioned above are only a few of Wren’s scientific works. He also studied in other areas not mentioned, ranging from agriculture, ballistics, water and freezing, to investigating light and refraction only to name a few. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Birch">Thomas Birch</a>'s <i>History of the Royal Society</i> is one of the most important sources of our knowledge not only of the origins of the Society, but also the day to day running of the Society. It is in these records that the majority of Wren’s scientific works are recorded.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-48246955991648415922009-10-19T00:05:00.002-04:002009-10-19T00:05:00.711-04:00October 19: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHZEh0pWy4A5xHMTy09FESC0_FjO8YhXDzOkEs47rXANHXfY7IkZeYahx-9pwDCMko6A-jvmf90mhG3UxiBmyj0gXBQ3u4Us3vo01m4wjLdwfv_427xZiWNXxcm-hXnxBqmrl2-G3xtQ/s1600-h/ChandraNobel.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHZEh0pWy4A5xHMTy09FESC0_FjO8YhXDzOkEs47rXANHXfY7IkZeYahx-9pwDCMko6A-jvmf90mhG3UxiBmyj0gXBQ3u4Us3vo01m4wjLdwfv_427xZiWNXxcm-hXnxBqmrl2-G3xtQ/s320/ChandraNobel.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394139687038063266" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 19, 1910 – August 21, 1995</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subrahmanyan_Chandrasekhar">Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar</a> was an Indian American astrophysicist. He was a Nobel laureate in physics along with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alfred_Fowler">William Alfred Fowler</a> for their work in the theoretical structure and evolution of stars. He was the nephew of Indian Nobel Laureate Sir <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._V._Raman">C. V. Raman</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chandrasekhar served on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago">University of Chicago</a> faculty from 1937 until his death in 1995 at the age of 84. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1953.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chandrasekhar (Chandra) was born in Lahore, India (present day Pakistan). Chandra was awarded a Government of India scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Cambridge, where he was admitted to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge">Trinity College</a> and became a research student of Professor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_H._Fowler">R. H. Fowler</a>. On the advice of Prof. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac">P. A. M. Dirac</a>, as part of his graduate studies, Chandra spent a year at the <i>Institut for Teoretisk Fysik</i> in Copenhagen, where he met Prof. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr">Niels Bohr</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In January 1937, Chandrasekhar was recruited to the University of Chicago faculty as Assistant Professor by Dr. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Struve">Otto Struve</a> and President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maynard_Hutchins">Robert Maynard Hutchins</a>. He was to remain at the university for his entire career, becoming Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics in 1952 and attaining emeritus status in 1985.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chandrasekhar developed a style of working continuously in one specific area of physics for a number of years; consequently, his working life can be divided into distinct periods. He studied stellar structure, including the theory of white dwarfs, during the years 1929 to 1939, and subsequently focused on stellar dynamics from 1939 to 1943. Next, he concentrated on the theory of radiative transfer and the quantum theory of the negative ion of hydrogen from 1943 to 1950. This was followed by sustained work on hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic stability from 1950 to 1961. In the 1960s, he studied the equilibrium and the stability of ellipsoidal figures of equilibrium, but also general relativity. During the period, 1971 to 1983 he studied the mathematical theory of black holes, and, finally, during the late 80s, he worked on the theory of colliding gravitational waves.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From 1952 to 1971 Chandrasekhar was editor of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysical_Journal">Astrophysical Journal</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the years 1990 to 1995, Chandrasekhar worked on a project devoted to explaining the detailed geometric arguments in Sir Isaac Newton's <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiae_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica">Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica</a></i> using the language and methods of ordinary calculus. The effort resulted in the book <i>Newton's Principia for the Common Reader</i>, published in 1995. Chandrasekhar was an honorary member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Academy_of_Science">International Academy of Science</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chandrasekhar's most famous success was the astrophysical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit">Chandrasekhar limit</a>. The limit describes the maximum mass of a white dwarf star, ~1.44 solar masses, or equivalently, the minimum mass, above which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star or black hole (following a supernova). The limit was first calculated by Chandrasekhar in 1930 during his maiden voyage from India to Cambridge, England for his graduate studies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1999, NASA named the third of its four "Great Observatories'" after Chandrasekhar. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_X-ray_Observatory">Chandra X-ray Observatory</a> was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle <i>Columbia</i> on July 23, 1999.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The asteroid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Chandra">1958 Chandra</a> is also named after Chandrasekhar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chandrasekhar was the mathematics professor of the renowned American astronomer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan">Carl Sagan</a> at the University of Chicago. In his book <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World">The Demon-Haunted World</a></i> Sagan wrote "I discovered what true mathematical elegance is from Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-54695577870070654642009-10-18T00:05:00.002-04:002009-10-18T00:05:00.155-04:00October 18: Pascual Jordan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxKBVAYSh13Ndz6_-1oFPvZOG3rv8D1YOVX-hvPrvF5w8P9NUQu4iVzZwGOEKGyaGdUE2GdJYZkJM6IRn1_35XanmNErUj4chqew1B9H4JOv-qOEK4-_mXpNMckJFDgOhFWvVO3tsE8U/s1600-h/jordan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 218px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxKBVAYSh13Ndz6_-1oFPvZOG3rv8D1YOVX-hvPrvF5w8P9NUQu4iVzZwGOEKGyaGdUE2GdJYZkJM6IRn1_35XanmNErUj4chqew1B9H4JOv-qOEK4-_mXpNMckJFDgOhFWvVO3tsE8U/s320/jordan.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393712008523880514" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-weight: bold; ">Pascual Jordan</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">October 18, 1902 - July 31, 1980</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascual_Jordan">Pascual Jordan</a> was a theoretical and mathematical physicist who made significant contributions to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics">quantum mechanics</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_field_theory">quantum field theory</a>. He contributed much to the mathematical form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_mechanics">matrix mechanics</a>, and developed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_field_theory">canonical anticommutation relations</a> for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermion">fermions</a>. While the Jordan algebra he invented is no longer employed in quantum mechanics, it has found other mathematical applications.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jordan joined the Nazi party and became a brownshirt, a political affiliation which isolated him within the physics community.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jordan enrolled in the Hanover Technical University in 1921 where he studied an eclectic mix of zoology, mathematics, and physics. As was typical for a German university student of the time, he shifted his studies to another university before obtaining a degree. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ttingen_University">Göttingen University</a>, his destination in 1923, was then at the very zenith of its prowess and fame in mathematics and the physical sciences. At Göttingen Jordan became an assistant first to mathematician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Courant">Richard Courant</a> and then to physicist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Born">Max Born</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Together with Max Born and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg">Werner Heisenberg</a> he was co-author of an important series of papers on quantum mechanics. He went on to pioneer early quantum field theory before largely switching his focus to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology">cosmology</a> before World War II.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jordan devised a type of non-associative algebras, now named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_algebra">Jordan algebras</a> in his honor, in an attempt to create an algebra of observables for quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Today, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_algebra">von Neumann algebras</a> are employed for this purpose. Jordan algebras have since been applied in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projective_geometry">projective geometry</a> and number theory.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Had Jordan not joined the Nazi party, it is <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0303241">conceivable</a> that he could have shared the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Max Born. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimydtcs56fofE0fBCG8j4cWGqjZfL2grzMxSWjn5nZK0-8ui40xi0ngqHiSn9QnG87XqMi151rLtOQu0KZRjJd13SYMiGsy_zIudUT1frdGvto2vh7hNMaeS1Uus_cbnBhSN6cDQqNLyDU/s320/Banner_NN_US.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 45px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290092377756195490" />Lunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.com0