Walter Baade facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Walter Baade
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | March 24, 1893 Schröttinghausen, German Empire
|
| Died | June 25, 1960 (aged 67) |
| Nationality | German |
| Citizenship | German |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Known for | Coined the term "supernova" and "neutron star" with Fritz Zwicky |
| Awards | Bruce Medal 1955 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Hamburg-Bergedorf Observatory, Mt. Wilson, Palomar Observatory |
| Doctoral students | Halton Arp Allan Sandage |
Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade (March 24, 1893 – June 25, 1960) was a German astronomer who worked in the United States from 1931 to 1959.
Biography
Son of a teacher, Baade finished school in 1912. He then studied maths, physics and astronomy at the universities of Münster and Göttingen. After receiving his PhD in 1919, Baade worked at Hamburg Observatory at Bergedorf from 1919 to 1931. There in 1920 he discovered 944 Hidalgo, the first of a class of minor planets now called Centaurs which cross the orbits of giant planets.
He worked at Mount Wilson Observatory from 1931 to 1958. There, during World War II, he took advantage of wartime blackout conditions (which reduced light pollution), to resolve stars in the center of the Andromeda Galaxy for the first time. These observations led him to define distinct "populations" for stars (Population I and Population II). The same observations led him to discover that there are two types of Cepheid variable stars. Using this discovery he recalculated the size of the known universe, doubling the previous calculation made by Hubble in 1929. He announced this finding to considerable astonishment at the 1952 meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Rome.
Together with Fritz Zwicky, he identified supernovae as a new category of astronomical objects. Zwicky and he also proposed the existence of neutron stars, and suggested supernovae might create them.
Beginning in 1952, he and Rudolph Minkowski identified the optical counterparts of various radio sources, including Cygnus A. He discovered 10 asteroids, including 944 Hidalgo, which has a long orbital period, and the Apollo-class 1566 Icarus, the perihelion of which is closer than that of Mercury, and the Amor-type 1036 Ganymed.
Honors
| 930 Westphalia | March 10, 1920 |
| 934 Thüringia | August 15, 1920 |
| 944 Hidalgo | October 31, 1920 |
| 966 Muschi | November 9, 1921 |
| 967 Helionape | November 9, 1921 |
| 1036 Ganymed | October 23, 1924 |
| 1103 Sequoia | November 9, 1928 |
| 1566 Icarus | June 27, 1949 |
| 5656 Oldfield | October 8, 1920 |
| 7448 Pöllath | January 14, 1948 |
Awards
- Foreign membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1953)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1954)
- Bruce Medal (1955)
- Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society (1958)
Named after him
- Asteroid 1501 Baade
- The crater Baade on the Moon
- Vallis Baade, a vallis (valley) on the Moon
- One of the two Magellan telescopes
- The asteroid 966 Muschi, after his wife's nickname
See also
In Spanish: Walter Baade para niños
