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Astronomers

Thumbnail sketches of those men and women who though their efforts made astronomy the science it is today, both fascinating and practicable to professional and amateur alike

While the data are public domain, the entire textual content and layout of the articles on this page are Copyright © Brian Timmins 2008, et seq. All rights reserved. Should you wish to use any of it for personal research or educative purposes, you may make one hard copy for your own use without further permission or charge. Teachers and educationalists may make as many copies as they need for classroom/lecture purposes - an eMail to say you are doing this would be appreciated.

I have little doubt that… my researches have left out astronomers who ought to be included; the details of listed astronomers may well be defficient; there may well be errors, both of inclusion and typographical. If any reader finds any such that need correction, please do not hesitate to eMail me.
Bar

From the Nineteenth Century Onwards...
Please note: This is currently a work in progress.
Except for Sir Patrick Moore, I just have not got around to doing anything other than a photograph
and a single line of information about the 20th century illuminaries.
Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-1992)
Oort Dutch. Calculated distance to center of galaxy; determined period for sun to complete one revolution of Milky Way; calculated the mass of the Milky Way; proposed existence of huge spherical cloud of icy comets (the Oort cloud) left behind from formation of the solar system
Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979)
Gaposchkin English. Discovered that stars are composed primarily of hydrogren, with helium the second-most abundant element
George Gaposchkin (1904-1968)
Gaposchkin Russian-born American. First suggested hydrogen fusion as source of solar energy
Karl G Jansky (1905-1950)
Jansky American. Discovered radio waves from space, thereby pioneering the birth of radio astronomy
Gerard P Kuiper (1905-1973)
Kuiper Dutch-born American. Discovered Miranda, the fifth satellite of Uranus; discovered Nereid, the second satellite of Neptune; discovered the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest satellite; his spectroscopic studies of Uranus and Neptune led to discovery of comet-like debris at the edge of the solar system, now called "Kuiper's belt"
Bruno B Rossi (1905-1993)
Rossi Italian. Pioneer of x-ray astronomy and space plasma physics; participated in discovery of the first known x-ray source outside the solar system (Scorpius X-1)
Bart Jan Bok (1906-1983)
Bok Dutch. Suggested that small dark globules of interstellar gas and dusk (now called Bok globules) are collapsing to form new stars
Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997)
Tombaugh American. Discovered the planet Pluto
Fred Whipple (1906-2004)
Whipple American. Proposed the "dirty snowball" model of cometary structure
Hannes Alfvén (1908-1995)
Alfvén Swedish. Developed the theory of magnetohydrodynamics
Subramanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995)
Chandrasekhar Indian-born American. Made important theoretical contributions concerning the structure and evolution of stars, especially white dwarfs
William Fowler (1911-1995)
Fowler American. Carried out extensive experimental studies of nuclear reactions of astrophysical significance and developed, with others, a complete theory of the formation of chemical elements in the universe
Grote Reber (1911-2002)
Reber American. Built the first radio telescope (a parabolic reflector 31 feet in diameter), thereby becoming the first radio astronomer
Carl K Seyfert (1911-1960)
Seyfert American. Discovered the first active galaxy, part of a group now called Seyfert galaxies
John A Wheeler (1911-2008)
Wheeler American. Made theoretical contributions to understanding of quantum gravity, coined the term "black hole" and introduced the concept of "spacetime foam"
Karl F von Weizsäcker (1912-2005)
Weizsacker German. Contributed to the development of the model nebular theory for the formation of the solar system and proposed (with Hans Bethe) the proton-proton reaction as the thermonuclear energy source for the sun
James A Van Allen (1914-2006)
Allen American. A space scientist best known for discovering the Earth's magnetosphere
Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001)
Hoyle British. Proponent of the steady-state model of the universe; well-known author of science fiction; proposed that earliest forms of life were carried through space on comets and that these primitive forms of life found their way to Earth; derisively coined the term "Big Bang" for a cosmic theory with which he did not agree
Robert H Dicke (1916-1997)
Dicke American. Proposed that radiation near 1-cm wavelength is left over from the hot Big Bang; invented the microwave radiometer, used to detect this radiation
George H Herbig (b.1920)
Herbig American. Independently discovered the Herbig-Haro objects, which are gas clouds associated with young stars
E Margaret Burbidge (b.1919)
Burbidge British. Performed observational research on the spectra of quasars and other peculiar galaxies; contributed to understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis
Sir Patrick Moore, (b.1923)
Moore British. The GRAND OLD MAN of astronomy, and in your author's opinion, the only amateur astronomer worthy of a full article for inclusion list of emminent professionals since it can be argued that he has done more to spread the gospel of astronomy than any other person in history. Born on 4 March 1923 in what was then the little Middlesex village of Pinner. At the age of six months he and his parents moved to Sussex where he has lived ever since. During this time he picked up his mother's copy of 'The Story of the Solar System' which sparked his lifelong passion. Since then, he has concentrated upon studies of the Moon. In 1959, the Russians used his charts to correlate the first Lunik 3 pictures of the far side of the Moon and he was involved in the lunar mapping before the NASA Apollo missions. Patrick has written over 60 books on astronomy. Since April 1957, he has presented all bar one of the monthly Sky at Night programmes. This last fact has earned him a place in the 'Guinness book of Records' as the longest serving television presenter. The programme has inspired successive generations of stargazers. "It gives me a great thrill to meet astronomers, both amateur and professional, who tell me their enthusiasm for the subject began by watching The Sky at Night, or through reading something I'd written," Patrick says. Partly thanks to his larger-than-life personality - one of his eccentricities being his insistance on wearing a monacle - bachelor Patrick's own fame extends far beyond astronomical circles. A self-taught musician and talented composer, he has displayed his xylophone-playing skills at a Royal Variety Performance. He also has a love for the game of cricket and has played for the Lord's Taverners. Astronomy remains his first love, and he has no plans to retire from The Sky at Night. "This century will be very interesting, though I will only see the first part of it, of course" he muses. "For instance, the first man on Mars has probably already been born, and we may have made contact with another life-form from somewhere we can only see clearly from Earth in the sky at night." Over his illustrious life, Patrick has received a whole host of prestigious accolades. In 2001, Patrick received a knighthood from the Queen. In the same year, he won a BAFTA for his services to television and became a member of the Royal Society.
Patrick Moore's Website
Patrick Moore's Webpages at The Sky at Night

Other Notable Amateur Astronomers

  • Beer Beer, Wilhelm Wolff (1777-1850). A banker who built a private observatory with a 9.5 cm refractor. Beer, along with Johann Heinrick Madler made the first exact map of the moon and the first map & globe of Mars. They later calculated its rotation to be 24 hours 37 minutes 22.7 seconds long - .01 seconds out from today's value!
  • Bopp, Thomas (b.1949) shared the discovery of comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 with unemployed PhD physicist Alan Hale.
  • Bradfield Bradfield, Bill (b.1928) a Past President and Honorary Life Member of the Astronomical Society of South Australia is the discoverer of 17 comets - the most comet discoveries by an amateur astronomer in the 20th century. He discovered his first on March 12 1972 when he found Comet 1972f.
  • Dobson Dobson, John (b.1915) perfected the Dobsonian alt-azimuth telescope mount that revolutionised the building of economically priced, large-aperture Newtonian reflector telescopes for faint-object observing.
  • Evans Evans, Robert Owen (b.1937) is a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia and an amateur astronomer who holds the all-time record for visual discoveries of supernovae.
  • Ferris, William D. (b.1961) discovered several comets and was the first to observe near-Earth objects.
  • Fried, Robert (1930–2003) founded the Braeside Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, in the 1960s.
  • Grigg, John (1838-1920) An early New Zealand amateur astronomer and an avid comet-hunter. He was the discoverer or co-discoverer of three comets that bear his name, in 1902, 1903 and 1907, and he was one of the first to undertake astro-photography in New Zealand.
  • Hay Hay, William Thomson (1888-1949) the famous comedian and actor (Will Hay), who discovered a white spot on Saturn.
  • Kojima, Takuo an amateur astronomer in the city of Tatebayashi, alone submitted 574 reports of comet observations to the IAU in 1997, the fifth highest total in the world. He is also credited with having discovered 28 asteroids.
  • Levy Levy, David H. (b.1948) discovered or co-discovered 22 comets including Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, the most for any individual.
  • Manjunath, Suraj discovered several near-Earth comets.
  • Peltier Peltier, Leslie (1900-1980) was a prolific discoverer of comets and well-known observer of variable stars.
  • Porter Porter, Russell W. (1871-1949) founded Stellafane and has been referred to as the "founder of amateur telescope making".
  • Roberts Roberts, Isaac (1829-1904) was the first to apply photography to astronomy.
  • Schwabe Schwabe, Heinrich (1789-1875) was an amateur astronomer in Dessau where he worked as a pharmacist in the first half of the ninteenth century. He was the first person to suspect that there was some regularity in the sunspots he was recording (while attempting to discover if there was a planet inside the orbit of Mercury) and he suggested that sunspots might follow a cycle of about 10 years. This was followed up by Johann Rudolf Wolf (1816-1893) a Swiss, professional astronomer who eventually produced a cycle of 11.1 years.
  • Stuart Stuart, Leon (d.1969) first - and so far only - astronomer to photograph a meteor striking the moon on 15 November 1953, though not all astronomers agree that this is what it was. However it has achieved such fame (perhaps notoriety) that it is now known as "Stuarts Event".
  • Takamizawa, Kesao from Sakuma, who found a nova in the constellation Ophiuchus. His discovery was recognized by the IAU on June 18 1998.

Thomas Gold (b.1920)
Gold American. Contributed to our understanding of cosmology, the nature of pulsars as rotating neutron stars, and the origin of planetary hydrocarbons
Antony Hewish (b.1924)
Hewish British. Led the research group that discovered the first pulsar
Edwin Ernest Salpeter (b.1924)
Salpeter Austrian-born American. Explained how the triple-alpha reaction could make carbon from helium in stars; worked on atomic theory and quantum electrodynamics; co-developed the Bethe-Salpeter equation; contributed to nuclear astrophysics, stellar evolution, statistical mechanics, and plasma physics
Allan R Sandage (b.1926)
Sandage American. Identified the first quasar, and discovered many more; determined ages of many globular clusters
Vera Rubin (b.1928)
Rubin American. Measured rotation curves for distant galaxies and ultimately concluded that 90% or more of the universe is made of invisible dark matter
Riccardo Giacconi (b.1931)
Giacconi Italian. Pioneer of x-ray astronomy; participated in discovery of the first known x-ray source outside the solar system (Scorpius X-1)
Sir Roger Penrose (b.1931)
Penrose British. Contributed to the development of general relativity by showing the necessity for cosmological singularities; elucidated the physics of black holes
Arno A Penzias (b.1933)
Penzias German-born American. Co-discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation
John N Bahcall (b.1934)
Bahcall American. Made important theoretical contributions to understanding solar neutrinos and quasars
Carl Edward Sagan (1934-1996)
Sagan American. Was a leader in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; contributed to most of the space missions to explore Mars and the outer planets; warned that all-out nuclear war could lead to a "nuclear winter"
Robert W Wilson (b.1936)
Wilson American. Co-discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation
James W Christy (b.1938)
Christy American. Discovered Pluto's satellite, Charon
William K Hartmann (b.1939)
Hartmann American. Well-known painter of astronomical themes; co-developed the most widely accepted theory of the formation of the Moon (from the collision of a giant planetismal with the Earth at the close of the planet-forming period of the solar system)
Kip S Thorne (b.1940)
Thorne American. Contributed to the theoretical understanding of black holes and gravitational radiation; co-founded the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory Project (LIGO)
Joseph H Taylor Jr (b.1941)
Taylor American. Co-discovered the first binary pulsar
Stephen W Hawking (b.1942)
Hawking British. Combined general relativity with quantum theory to predict that black holes should emit radiation and evaporate
Jocelyn Bell (b.1943)
Bell Irish. Co-discovered the first pulsar
Charles Thomas Bolton (b.1943)
Bolton American-born Canadian. Identified Cygnus X-1 as the first black hole
Alan H Guth (b.1947)
Guth American. Developed the theory of cosmic evolution known as the inflationary universe
Paul F. Goldsmith (b.1948)
Goldsmith American. Director of National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center; developed techniques to study structure of dense molecular clouds where star formation is occurring
Russell Alan Hulse (b.1950)
Hulse American. Co-discovered the first binary pulsar
Bernard E Burke (b.????)
Burke American. Developed techniques for very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) using atomic frequency standards to synchronize radio telescopes at remote locations worldwide, leading to a 1000-fold improvement in angular resolution for radio telescopes; conducted first measurements of intercontinental and transcontinental VLBI
Irwin I Shapiro (b.????)
Shapiro Implemented novel radio or radar techniques for various astrophysical research activities including solar-system tests of general relativity and studies of gravitational lenses and supernovae seeking to determine an accurate value for the Hubble constant

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