Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sh41b26p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SH41B-26
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
6605 Education, 6620 Science Policy, 7507 Chromosphere, 7509 Corona, 7599 General Or Miscellaneous
Scientific paper
A centennial symposium in honor of Donald H. Menzel was held at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on May 11, 2001. Menzel was known especially for his studies of the solar chromosphere, for his theoretical work on gaseous nebulae, and for his role in founding the Sacramento Peak and High Altitude observatories and in bringing the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to Cambridge. Menzel received his Ph.D. at Princeton, where he was fascinated and excited by the lectures of Henry Norris Russell about the new theoretical astrophysics. At Lick Observatory, Menzel investigated the solar chromosphere using solar eclipse spectra, and published the results in a major volume in 1931. The value for the mean molecular weight he deduced for the lower chromosphere helped persuade Russell and others that hydrogen was the major constituent of the solar atmosphere, as Cecilia Payne had intimated earlier. Menzel's studies of solar eclipse spectra also led him to propose, in a paper written with R. T. Birge, that hydrogen had an isotope of mass 2, a suggestion that motivated Harold Urey to isolate the isotope (deuterium) chemically. Menzel joined the Harvard faculty in 1932. His interest in investigating the sun led him to observe more than a dozen solar eclipses, to exploit the coronagraph, and to found two solar observatories: at Climax, Colorado, and at Sunspot, New Mexico. He served as Director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1952 to 1966. During this time he suggested bringing and arranged to bring the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to Harvard. Speakers at the symposium on Menzel's life, times, and scientific legacy included Donald Osterbrock, David DeVorkin, David Layzer, Jay Pasachoff, Barbara Welther, Thomas Bogdan, Jack Zirker, and France Cordova. The organizing committee was Owen Gingerich, David Layzer, Robert Noyes, William Parkinson, Jay Pasachoff, and Barbara Welther.
Gingerich Owen
Layzer David
Noyes Robert W.
Parkinson William H.
Pasachoff Jay. M.
No associations
LandOfFree
Donald H. Menzel: Scientist, Educator Builder does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Donald H. Menzel: Scientist, Educator Builder, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Donald H. Menzel: Scientist, Educator Builder will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1275135