Horace W. Babcock
Horace W. Babcock | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 13, 1912 |
| Died | August 29, 2003 (aged 90) |
| Known for | adaptive optics Babcock Model |
| Awards | Henry Draper Medal (1957) Eddington Medal (1958) Bruce Medal (1969) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1970) George Ellery Hale Prize (1992) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | astronomy |
Horace Welcome Babcock (September 13, 1912 – August 29, 2003) was an American astronomer. He was the son of Harold D. Babcock.
Career
Babcock invented and built several astronomical instruments and was the first to propose adaptive optics in 1953.[1][2] He specialized in spectroscopy and the study of magnetic fields of stars. He proposed the Babcock Model, a theory for the magnetism of sunspots.
During World War II, he was engaged in radiation work at MIT and Caltech. After the war, he began a productive collaboration with his father. His undergraduate studies were at Caltech, and his doctorate was from the University of California, Berkeley.[3]
Babcock's 1938 doctoral thesis contained one of the earliest discoveries of dark matter. He reported measurements of the rotation curve for the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and wrote, "The velocities therefore indicate a greater mass than that derived from the luminosity. This discrepancy can hardly be explained unless we postulate either a change in the nature of the stellar population in the outer parts of the nebula or a departure from the laws of circular motion," and "the mass-to-light ratio increases markedly at large radii. It is evident that the outer parts of the nebula contain either a great amount of non-luminous matter or that the motions depart significantly from circularity."[4] Babcock considered the possibility that there was more dust in the outer parts of the galaxy than previously thought, thereby increasing the mass-to-light ratio, but did not conclude this was the explanation. Nonetheless, it was not until the work of Morton (Mort) Roberts [5] in the late 1960s, Rubin & Ford,[6] and Freeman in regard to NGC 300,[7] that attention to spiral galaxy rotation curves was again in the spotlight as an indication of a mass or gravity problem in spiral galaxies.[8] Babcock was ahead of time.
Babcock was director of the Palomar Observatory for Caltech from 1964 to 1978.
Honors
Awards
- Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1957)[9]
- Eddington Medal (1958)
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1959)[10]
- Bruce Medal (1969)[11]
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1970)[12]
- George Ellery Hale Prize of the American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division (1992)
Named after him
- Asteroid 3167 Babcock (jointly with his father)
- Babcock crater on the Moon is named only for his father
Honors
- Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1954)[13]
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1959)[14]
- Elected to the American Philosophical Society (1966)[15]
References
- ^ Babcock, H.W. (1953) “The possibility of compensating astronomical seeing,” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 65 (386) : 229–236. Available at: Astrophysics Data System
- ^ "'Adaptive optics' come into focus". BBC. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
- ^ Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
- ^ Babcock, H, 1939, “The rotation of the Andromeda Nebula”, Lick Observatory bulletin ; no. 498
- ^ M. S. Roberts (September 1969), "Integral Properties of Spiral and Irregular Galaxies", Astronomical Journal, 74: 859–876, Bibcode:1969AJ.....74..859R, doi:10.1086/110874
- ^ V. C. Rubin and W. Kent Ford, Jr (February 1970), "Rotation of the Andromeda Nebula from a Spectroscopic Survey of Emission Regions", Astrophysical Journal, 159: 379–404, Bibcode:1970ApJ...159..379R, doi:10.1086/150317
- ^ K. Freeman (June 1970), "On the Disks of Spiral and S0 Galaxies", Astrophysical Journal, 160: 811–830, Bibcode:1970ApJ...160..811F, doi:10.1086/150474
- ^ Vanderburgh, W. L. (2014) "Putting a New Spin on Galaxies: Horace W. Babcock, the Andromeda Nebula, and the Dark Matter Revolution," Journal for the History of Astronomy, 45(2) : 141-159. |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/002182861404500201
- ^ "Henry Draper Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
- ^ "Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- ^ "Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society". Royal Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- ^ "Horace W. Babcock". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
- ^ "Horace Welcome Babcock". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
External links
- Bruce Medal page Archived 2020-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
- Awarding of Bruce Medal
- Awarding of RAS gold medal
- H.W. Babcock, "The Possibility of Compensating Astronomical Seeing", PASP 65 (1953) 229
- Oral History interview transcript with Horace Babcock on 9 June 1975, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives. Interview conducted by Spencer Weart.
- Oral History interview transcript with Horace Babcock on 25 July 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives. Interview conducted by Spencer Weart.
- National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
Obituaries
PASP 116 (2004) 290(not available online yet, see [1])- Preston, George W. (2004). "Obituary: Horace Welcome Babcock (1912–2003)". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 116 (817): 290–294. Bibcode:2004PASP..116..290P. doi:10.1086/382664.