Sidney van den Bergh

Last updated

Sidney van den Bergh
Born
Sidney van den Bergh

(1929-05-20) 20 May 1929 (age 94)
OccupationAstronomer
AwardsOrder of Canada

Sidney Van den Bergh, OC, FRS (born 20 May 1929) is a retired Dutch-Canadian astronomer. [1]

Contents

He showed an interest in science from an early age, learning to read with books on astronomy. [2] In addition to being interested in astronomy. He also liked geology and archeology. [2] His parents got him science books, a telescope, and a microscope, although they wished him to pursue a more practical career and only follow astronomy as a hobby. [2] He went to Leiden University in the Netherlands from 1947 to 1948. He then attended Princeton University on scholarship where he received his A.B. in 1950. [1] [2] In December 1950, he was living in Columbus, Ohio and evidencing an interest in Astronomy. [3] He obtained an MSc from Ohio State University (1952) and a Dr. rer. nat. from the University of Göttingen (1956). [1]

He took a faculty position at Ohio State University from 1956 to 1958 before moving to Toronto in 1958 where he spent the first part of his career at the David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) of the University of Toronto. [1] At the DDO, he led innovations that included: expansion of the facilities, utilization of computers, and multicolor photometry. [1] While his areas of focus have included the moon and other parts of the Solar System, he is best known for his work in extragalactic astronomy in which he has published original findings and reviews of nebulae, star clusters, variable stars, supernovae and more recently, an update to the estimated age of the universe. [1] He discovered Andromeda II. [4]

The second part of his career began in 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia, at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory where he was appointed director in 1977 and took office in 1978, remaining in that position until 1986 when he semi-retired and took the new role of principal research officer. [1] [5] He has served as president of the Canadian Astronomical Society and as vice-president of the International Astronomical Union from 1972 to 1982. [6]

Beginning in 1982, he started serving as chairman and president of the board of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation in Hawaii. [1]

Honours

Awards

Named after him

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Herschel</span> German-born British astronomer and composer (1738–1822)

Frederick William Herschel was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, William Herschel followed his father into the military band of Hanover, before emigrating to Great Britain in 1757 at the age of nineteen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Goldschmidt</span> German painter

Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt was a German-French astronomer and painter who spent much of his life in France. He started out as a painter, but after attending a lecture by the famous French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier turned to astronomy. His discovery of the asteroid Lutetia in 1852 was followed by further findings and by 1861 Goldschmidt had discovered 14 asteroids. He received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1861 for having discovered more asteroids than any other person up to that time. He died from complications of diabetes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Lassell</span> English merchant and astronomer (1799–1880)

William Lassell was an English merchant and astronomer. He is remembered for his improvements to the reflecting telescope and his ensuing discoveries of four planetary satellites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aden Meinel</span> American astronomer

Aden B. Meinel was an American astronomer. He retired in 1993 as a distinguished scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He also held the rank of professor emeritus at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. His research interests have included upper atmospheric physics, glass technology, optical design, instrumentation and space systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Dunlap Observatory</span> Observatory

The David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) is an astronomical observatory site in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1935, it was owned and operated by the University of Toronto until 2008. It was then acquired by the city of Richmond Hill, which provides a combination of heritage preservation, unique recreation opportunities and a celebration of the astronomical history of the site. Its primary instrument is a 74-inch (1.88 m) reflector telescope, at one time the second-largest telescope in the world, and still the largest in Canada. Several other telescopes are also located at the site, which formerly also included a small radio telescope. The scientific legacy of the David Dunlap Observatory continues in the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, a research institute at the University of Toronto established in 2008.

J-John Kavelaars, better known as JJ Kavelaars, is a Canadian astronomer who was part of a team that discovered several moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. He is also a discoverer of minor planets and an investigator on the extended New Horizons mission, having aided in the discovery of 486958 Arrokoth.

Willem Hendrik van den Bos was a Dutch astronomer who worked at the Union Observatory in South Africa and became its director in 1941. He discovered nearly 3000 new double stars, made more than 71000 astronomical measurements and compiled a catalogue of Southern hemisphere double stars. He computed the orbits of more than 100 double stars using a method he invented and which later became the accepted standard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope</span> Astronomy observatorium

The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters, part of the Mauna Kea Observatory. Operational since 1979, the telescope is a Prime Focus/Cassegrain configuration with a usable aperture diameter of 3.58 metres (11.7 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perkins Observatory</span> Observatory

Perkins Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Delaware, Ohio. It is owned and operated by Ohio Wesleyan University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Observatory, Edinburgh</span> Observatory

The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE) is an astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The ROE comprises the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) of STFC, the Institute for Astronomy of the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh, and the ROE Visitor Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ondřejov Observatory</span> Astronomical observatory on the eastern outskirts of Prague, Czech Republic

The Ondřejov Observatory is the principal observatory of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It is located near the village of Ondřejov, 35 kilometres southeast of Prague, Czech Republic. It has a 2-metre wide telescope, which is the largest in the Czech Republic.

James Whitney Young is an American astronomer who worked in the field of asteroid research. After nearly 47 years with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at their Table Mountain Facility, Young retired July 16, 2009.

John "Jack" Borden Newton is a Canadian astronomer, best known for his publications and images in amateur astrophotography.

The University of Toronto Southern Observatory (UTSO) was an astronomical observatory built by the University of Toronto at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. It hosted a single 60 cm Cassegrain telescope and a small cottage for the operators, located amongst the instruments funded by other organizations. The first observational runs started in 1971, and like many smaller instruments, it was later shut down in favor of a partial share in a much larger telescope in 1997. Although small by modern standards, the Southern Observatory nevertheless became famous for its role in the discovery of SN 1987A when UofT astronomer Ian Shelton spotted the supernova while observing with another little-used telescope at the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4230 van den Bergh</span>

4230 van den Bergh (prov. designation: 1973 ST1) is a highly elongated Hildian asteroid and member of the Schubart family from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 19 September 1973, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the Palomar Observatory, California. The assumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a very long rotation period of 88 hours and measures approximately 37 kilometers (23 miles) in diameter. It was named for Dutch–Canadian astronomer Sidney Van den Bergh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas U. Mayall</span> American astronomer

Nicholas Ulrich Mayall was an American observational astronomer. After obtaining his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, Mayall worked at the Lick Observatory, where he remained from 1934 to 1960, except for a brief period at MIT's Radiation Laboratory during World War II.

George Kildare Miley is an Irish-Dutch astronomer. He holds a professorship at Leiden University, where he served as director of Leiden Observatory from 1996 to 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney C. Wolff</span> American astrophysicist

Sidney Carne Wolff is an American astrophysicist, researcher, public educator, and author. She is the first woman in the United States to head a major observatory, and she provided significant contributions to the construction of six telescopes. Wolff served as Director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). She is a member of the International Astronomical Union's Division G: Stars and Stellar Physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Murdin</span> British astronomer

Paul Geoffrey Murdin is a British astronomer. He identified the first clear candidate for a black hole, Cygnus X-1, with his colleague Louise Webster.

Reynold Kenneth Young was a Canadian astronomer. He served as first director of the David Dunlap Observatory from 1935 until 1946.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 McNicholl, Martin K., Van den Bergh, Sidney, The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Foundation, retrieved 16 December 2008
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Profile: Sidney Van den Bergh, GCS Research Society, 2007, retrieved 17 December 2008
  3. Van den Bergh, Sidney (5 January 1951), "Solar Distances", The New York Times, vol. 100, no. 33949, p. 20, ISSN   0362-4331
  4. McConnachie, A. W.; Irwin, M. J.; Ferguson, A. M. N.; Ibata, R. A.; et al. (2005), "Distances and metallicities for 17 Local Group galaxies", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 356 (4): 979–997, arXiv: astro-ph/0410489 , Bibcode:2005MNRAS.356..979M, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08514.x
  5. "Illusion May Shed Light on Fate of the Cosmos", The New York Times, vol. 140, no. 48546, p. B10, 21 March 1991, ISSN   0362-4331
  6. 1 2 Canadian Asteroids, The Royal Astronomy Society of Canada, 22 July 2008, archived from the original on 1 February 2009, retrieved 19 January 2009
  7. Belangrijke prijs voor Nederlandse astronoom (in Dutch), Nu.nl/ANP, 10 June 2014, retrieved 10 June 2014