Specola Guestbook: April 8, 1910 – Three Scots
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from April 8, 1910, when three notable Dunediners--George Chrystal, P. Hume Brown, and John Sutherland Black--made a visit.
George Chrystal (1851-1911)
Next to his name, George Chrystal FRSE, FRS (1851-1911) wrote "Prof. Math. Univ. Edinb." (Professor of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh). He was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society. His work on seiches (standing waves in ponds and other enclosed bodies of water) earned him a posthumous Gold Medal from the Royal Society of London. He was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh as well as the Royal Society of London. He is also known for having written several books on algebra.
Peter Hume Brown (1849-1918)
Next to his name, Peter Hume Brown FBA (1849-1918) wrote "Historiographer-Royal, Edinburgh." He published a definitive three-volume history of Scotland in 1898, and in 1901 became the first professor of Scottish history at the University of Edinburgh. He established Scottish history as a significant academic discipline, and worked to distinguish it from English history.
Next to his name, John Sutherland Black FRSE LLD (1846-1923) wrote simply, "Edinburgh." He was a biblical scholar and an amateur astronomer. He co-edited the Encyclopaedia Biblica (1899). He also contributed entries for the the Dictionary of National Biography (1901) and the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911), serving as assistant editor for that publication as well. He was Curator of Records at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Specola Guestbook: September 7, 1967 – Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
For today's guestbook entry, we jump out of sequence once again to September 7, 1967, when Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge made a visit.
Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge
Source: Caltech Archives
They came with their daughter Sarah. Next to their names is written, "La Jolla, California." Later, they signed the guestbook again in 1970 during a meeting on galactic nuclei at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
There is a timely reason to highlight these guests of the Specola this week. On Monday, August 12, 2019, Margaret Burbidge celebrates her 100th birthday.
Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge, along with collaborators William Fowler and Fred Hoyle, are most known for developing the theory of the nucleosynthetic origin of elements in stars. This ground-breaking theory was published in a 100-page journal article in 1957. This paper is referred to as "Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler and Hoyle" or more often simply B2FH (pronounced "B-squared-F-H). This work received the Warner prize in 1959.
(I once made their names into a parody of the "Double, double, toil and trouble" chant of the weird sisters in Shakespeare's "Scottish play." I would repeat it here, but I have forgotten the words.)
Eleanor Margaret Burbidge, FRS (1919- ) is an astrophysicist. In addition to her work on the B2FH theory, she was a pioneer in the study of quasars and in galactic rotation curves. She helped develop the spectrograph for the Hubble Space Telescope.
She has served as director of the Greenwich observatory and the Center for Astronomy and Space Science at UC San Diego. She was the first woman president of the American Astronomical Society, and also served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Throughout her career, she fought to destroy gender barriers in the sciences. She opposed any kind of gender discrimination, even refusing the Annie Jump Cannon award because it was reserved for women.
She nevertheless received a number of other awards in her lifetime, including the AAS Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, the National Medal of Science, and the Albert Einstein World Award of Science. The asteroid 5490 Burbidge is named in her honor.
Geoffrey Burbidge (1925-2010) served as director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory from 1978-1984. The asteroid 11753 Geoffburbidge is named for him.
Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge (left) with William Fowler and Fred Hoyle in 1971.
Source: Univ. Cambridge; Photo: Donald Clayton
Specola Guestbook: April 1, 1910 – Henry Drinker
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from April 1, 1910 (no foolin!), when Henry Drinker made a visit.
Henry Sturgis Drinker (1850-1937).
Source: Lehigh University
Next to his name, Henry Sturgis Drinker (1850-1937) wrote "President of Lehigh University, South Bethlehem Pa."
Drinker was an engineer and a lawyer. He got a bachelor's degree in engineering from Lehigh University in 1871. As an engineer, he is most noted for the construction in 1875 of the Musconetcong Tunnel, a railway tunnel in the mountains of New Jersey. After completing the project, he studied law at Lafayette College and became the solicitor general of the Lehigh Valley Railroad from 1885 until 1905, when he became president of Lehigh University.
He was the fifth president of Lehigh University, and the only alumnus to hold that position. During his tenure, he was responsible for several improvements to the campus and its programs. These include a ROTC program, the construction of a mining engineering laboratory, a civil engineering laboratory, several dormitories, and a stadium. He was president of the American Forestry Association from 1817 to 1923, and so also established the university's forestry department. He stepped down as president of the university in 1920.
Drinker had several children, many of whom made their own significant mark on the world. Among these are Henry Sandwith Drinker, a noted lawyer and musician, and Catherine Drinker Bowen, a celebrated author and biographer.
Man with the Cat (Henry Sturgis Drinker)
Cecilia Beaux, 1898, oil on canvas.
Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum
Religious Scientists: Abbess St. Hildegard of Bingen OSB (1098-1179), Doctor of the Church
For this entry in the series, we go back in time almost a thousand years, to a period where modern science as we know it had not yet been established. How can we talk about a “religious scientist” before the age of modern science? In this case, by holding up an exemplar who, though not formally a scientist, made significant contributions to our knowledge based on the systematic experimental study of the natural world.
The exemplar I have in mind is Hildegard of Bingen, a Benedictine abbess who recorded, preserved, and disseminated much knowledge about medicine, pharmacology, and plants and animals that served as sources for medicines and remedies.
Hildegard of Bingen receiving a vision. (Artist unknown)
Biographical Sketch
Hildegard was born in 1098, the 10th child in a large wealthy family. At an early age (somewhere between ages 8-12, depending on sources) she was tithed to the Benedictine monastery at Disibodenberg. There, Hildegard received her education.
It is possible that she served as either infirmarian or pigmentarius (pharmacist) at Disibodenberg, because she developed extensive knowledge of medicines and their uses. Most of her scientific writings are medicinal in nature.
In addition to scientific contributions, Hildegard wrote musical compositions such as the Symphonia armonie celestial revelationum. She was a mystic who experienced many visions. Her special insights regarding the Gospel of John are explicated in the Liber Divinorum Operum. She was known as a persuasive and insightful preacher. In total, about four hundred of her written works are still extant.
She founded two monasteries, one in 1150 and another in 1165, and served as abbess of both.
She died in 1179 at the age of 81 “in an odor of sanctity.” Though she had been traditionally referred to as a saint since early after her death, she was not formally canonized until 2012. In that year, Pope Benedict XVI declared her a Doctor of the Church.
Scientific Contributions:
Hildegard was someone who made careful observation and experiment, and recorded the results. This is the heart of what it means to be a scientist. Regardless of her many mystical visions and experiences, her work with medicine and the natural world was based on direct observation.
She was part of the 12th century “mini Renaissance” that would lay the basis for developments in the 16th century. She lived just before Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), another exemplar of a knowledgeable scholar and protoscientist of the era.
She wrote two treatises on medicine: Cause et Cure and Liber Subtilitatum Diversarum Naturarum Creaturarum, and one on natural sciences: Physica. They demonstrate extensive practical knowledge, though some of it comes from outside sources that are a bit fantastical. (For example, there is a reference to unicorns.) The treatments and cures themselves are not fictional or invented, but are grounded in practical experience.
They contain an extensive taxonomy of plants and animals. She started to think about evolution of species, though not in the more developed way that would come with Charles Darwin eight centuries later.
She tested several different potential pesticides for efficacy. In her writings, she also talks knowingly about the process of brewing beer, or about the different sources of water and whether they are safe to drink. (E.g. well water is better than spring water, and water from swamps or rivers should be boiled before drinking.)
Doctor of the Church
On May 10, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI declared Hildegard a Doctor of the Church, the fourth woman to receive that distinction after Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Therese of Lisieux.
In the apostolic letter declaring her a Doctor of the Church, Pope Benedict wrote that “the profound spirituality of her writings had a significant influence both on the faithful and on important figures of her time and brought about an incisive renewal of theology, liturgy, natural sciences and music.” He holds her up as an example for women, not least as a scientist; “For these reasons the attribution of the title of Doctor of the Universal Church to Hildegard of Bingen has great significance for today’s world and an extraordinary importance for women. In Hildegard are expressed the most noble values of womanhood: hence the presence of women in the Church and in society is also illumined by her presence, both from the perspective of scientific research and that of pastoral activity. Her ability to speak to those who were far from the faith and from the Church make Hildegard a credible witness of the new evangelization.”
The asteroid (898) Hildegard is named for her, and there is a crater on the far side of the Moon that bears her name.
Many thanks to Michelle Francl-Donnay for providing material that helped in the writing of this piece.
Specola Guestbook: February 15 and July 21, 1969 – Apollo related visits
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today, we take advantage of the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing to jump out of the usual sequence and go to 1969. The first part of today's guestbook entry is from February 15, 1969, when Frank Borman made a visit.
Next to his name, Col. Frank Borman, USAF (1928--) wrote, "Houston, Texas". He came with his wife Susan and his two sons, Edwin and Fred, who also signed the book.
Frank Borman suiting up. (Source: NASA Apollo Image Gallery)
Frank was an astronaut with NASA. He was mission commander on the Gemini 7 mission. After the disaster of Apollo 1 that killed its crew, Borman's testimony helped convince Congress to continue the Apollo program.
On Christmas Eve of 1968, Col. Borman and his crewmates on Apollo 8, Jim Lovell and William Anders, became the first human beings ever to enter orbit around another world. From orbit around the moon, they made a Christmas broadcast in which they read from the book of Genesis and wished everyone "good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth." During their 10 orbits, they also captured the famous "Earthrise" photograph of the Earth emerging from behind the moon.
Frank Borman's visit to the Vatican Observatory was less than two months after this historic event. During the visit, he presented Fr. Daniel O'Connell (the director of the observatory) with a signed copy of the photo.
During the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon, Borman was on Earth, watching from the Oval Office of the White House. He had been assigned to serve as NASA's liaison with President Nixon during that historic event.
Earthrise photo presented by Frank Borman to Fr. Daniel O'Connell SJ
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For a bonus "entry" in the guest book (and to make up for not having one last week), we turn to July 21, 1969, when Pope St. Paul VI made a visit.
Pope St. Paul VI watching the Apollo 11 moon landing from the Vatican Observatory
He did not sign the guest book for this visit. He did sign it on other occasions, but that's a subject for another entry.
Nevertheless, there is a signature. He signed a photograph of himself that was taken at the event. His signature reads, "Paulus PP. VI," under which he wrote "20-VII-1969."
On the early morning of July 21 (or very late the night of the 20th, depending on how you look at it), he made a visit to our telescope domes in the Pontifical Villas, where he and Fr. O'Connell watched the landing of Apollo 11 on television. Also from the Schmidt telescope dome, he made an address to the astronauts, congratulating them on their venture and blessing their endeavors.
Below are two video links. The first is full-color television coverage of Pope Paul VI's visit, including his address (in Italian, with English in the last part where he addresses the astronauts directly). The second is the audio of the Pope's address presented over still photographs. It is shorter and the audio quality is much better.
Moon Rocks and Me
When I was a graduate student at the University of Central Florida finishing up my dissertation on meteorite densities and porosities, one day my advisor Dan Britt called me into his office. He said, “I have a little side project for you.” He made me put on laboratory gloves and then handed me a rock. It was small, a few centimeters on each side, grey in color with a few lighter and darker inclusions. It didn’t look like most of the meteorites that I had worked with. “I want you to measure the density and porosity of that,” he told me.
And then he told me what I held in my hand. “That is an Apollo moon rock.”
Me (back in 2009) with a moon rock
He had been allocated five specimens from Apollo missions 12, 14, and 15, as the first part of a new study. Our collaborator in this research, Walter Kiefer from the Lunar and Planetary Institute, wanted to use data of lunar gravity anomalies to better understand the lunar crust, and for this he needed ground-truth data on the densities of lunar rocks.
As spacecraft orbit the moon, they experience variations in the strength of the gravitational pull, which causes the craft to speed up or slow down slightly. The change is small but measurable, and a careful record of this speeding up or slowing down can be translated into a gravity map of the lunar surface. These variations are the result of regions with greater or lesser overall density compared with the lunar average. One of the key factors affecting the density is the thickness of the lunar crust, so gravity anomalies can help one understand the crustal structure of the moon. But, to understand this, one needs to know the density of lunar rocks consistent with the geology of the region.
That’s where the moon rocks come in. These are field specimens; that is, they were collected by human beings from the surface of the moon, and the locations of where they were collected is very well documented. Therefore, they are not just “rocks from the moon,” but they are rocks with a geological story to tell. As part of our study, we also worked with lunar meteorites, which gave us a greater breadth of material to work with, but the Apollo specimens were best because we knew exactly where they came from.
The first few Apollo moon rocks that I worked with had been allocated from the “measurement suite,” a set of rocks that had already been extensively studied, and there was not really any problem with us working on them in my own laboratory.
In the work that I do, I measure two types of density: bulk density (the density of the whole rock, including any contributions from interior cracks or voids) and grain density (the density of only the solid component of the rock, excluding voids). The difference between the two gives the porosity, or the percentage empty space inside the rock. Grain density is measured with ideal gas pycnometry, where we place the object in a chamber that is pressurized with inert gas. A valve is opened that expands the gas into a second chamber. By comparing the pressure before and the pressure after, we can calculate the volume displaced by the rock. Since the gas penetrates interior space, this is only the volume of the solid component. Bulk density was, at that time, measured by the “glass bead” method developed by Br. Guy Consolmagno. By weighing a cup containing the rock and filled to the brim with tiny glass beads, it is possible to calculate the volume displaced by the rock.
Moon rock in a cup of glass beads
We quickly finished the measurements on the five Apollo specimens that had been allocated, and dutifully returned them to NASA. But the research was not done. We had only scratched the surface of the moon. To complete the study, we needed a lot more rocks from all of the different landing sites. More requests went out for more specimens.
Requests to work with moon rocks are reviewed by a committee, called Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials, or CAPTEM for short. What made our proposal strong was that we did not have to remove all of the moon rocks from their home at NASA. All of our research equipment was portable, and so we could do the work on-site. This also made it possible to access a larger suite of specimens. And so it was that, as a newly minted PhD, I packed my research equipment in the trunk of my car and drove from Florida to Houston for the first of several visits to NASA.
NASA Johnson Space Center, in suburban Houston, is a magical place. After getting my credentials, I parked the car by Building 31, which houses the Lunar Receiving Laboratory where all of the moon rocks from the Apollo missions are stored. It is a fairly unassuming structure; from the outside little more than a big concrete box. One of the peculiarities of the space program is that the place where extraterrestrial specimens is stored and preserved in the most pristine of conditions happens to be in the middle of a hurricane zone. Hence the architecture: the building has to withstand hurricane conditions without threatening the integrity of the precious specimens stored inside.
Apollo specimen 67015,111 (from Apollo 16) at the curation facility.
The laboratory where I worked is not exactly a clean room, but is a very low-dust environment. Each time I entered, I had to don a lint-free smock and a cap (called a “snood” for some reason) and put plastic slippers over my shoes. All of the equipment had to be thoroughly wiped down before it could enter the space.
Me (back in 2014) with lab equipment in the curation facility
The place where the moon rocks are actually stored, on the other hand, is a much cleaner space. You go full bunny-suit to enter that area, and have to pass through an airlock with an air shower to blow off any dust that might cling to your suit. The moon rocks themselves are kept in glove boxes with a pure nitrogen environment. Nothing says “space rocks” like a good glove-box chamber. These glove boxes are in a hermetically-sealed vault with an imposing door.
Bunny Suit Area
Lunar sample storage vault
The curation staff are wonderful people. The curator of the Apollo collection, Ryan Zeigler, is a jovial fellow who happens to have been at Washington University at about the same time I was. He made doing the research easy; instead of setting up bureaucratic obstacles to jump through, he did his best to smooth them over to make the research happen. Most of the other curation staff are NASA contractors, and are also a wonderful bunch of people. They have a friendly rivalry with “the other side of the building,” where the Antarctic meteorites are stored. (In my research, I have dealt with both sides of the building.) They often all go out to lunch at a local barbecue joint, and they welcomed me along when I was there.
After a couple visits, we went through another round of sample requests with CAPTEM. This time, someone on the committee expressed concern about possible trace element contamination from the glass beads. They recommended we use alumina instead of glass. Glass beads are cheap; you can get pounds of it for pennies. Alumina beads, on the other hand, are very expensive. We shelled out a pretty penny for a kilogram of the stuff, but as soon as we tried to use them for measurements, we discovered a problem. They develop a static electric charge, which causes the tiny beads to literally jump out of the container. This completely messed up our measurement. (It also messed up the lab. A cleaning crew spent several hours after the visit picking up all the beads that had flown everywhere.) That’s when Ryan mentioned, “I think there’s someone here who has a laser scanner. Maybe we can try that.”
Apollo specimen being laser scanned
Laser scanners are great. They create a 3-d model of the specimen in the computer, from which the volume can be calculated. There are no beads, and nothing touches the specimen except a low-intensity laser light. After a few tests to prove the concept, we became so enamored with the technology that we acquired the same model laser scanner for our own research. Today, it is my preferred method for measuring bulk density.
The visits were fun and productive. In total, we worked with almost 60 specimens from all 6 successful Apollo landings, and I have held over 1kg of these rocks in my gloved hands. Complementing the data with about 200 lunar meteorites, it provided a good data set from which to analyze the gravity data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, GRAIL, and other instruments.
It has already provided some useful insight. For instance, new data for the density of rocks from Apollo 14 suggests that our estimate of the depth of the crust in the Orientale basin has been underestimated by about 25%.
Unfortunately, I do not have plans to go back for more moon rocks. It was fun, but the project has been completed. I miss my visits to Building 31 and all of its occupants, whom I consider almost like family. (It was wonderful to have several of them, including Ryan Zeigler, come visit me last September for a curation workshop at the Vatican Observatory.) One day I hope to have the chance to go back to that magical place.
This week is marked by the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Undoubtedly it will also provide an occasion for the conspiracy theorists to once again make a claim that the astronauts never landed on the moon. Take it from me: they not only went there, but they came back with rocks to prove it. I have held these very same rocks in my hand.
Specola Guestbook: January 5, 1910 – Vincenzo Cerulli and Giorgio Abetti
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from January 5, 1910, when Vincenzo Cerulli and Giorgio Abetti made a visit.
Vincenzo Cerulli (1859-1927)
Next to his name, Vincenzo Cerulli (1859-1927) wrote "di Collurania."
He was the founder and director of the Collurania-Teramo Observatory, located in Teramo, Italy. With the 40-cm refractor installed there, he made observations of the planet Mars, and concluded that the "canali" were optical illusions. He discovered the asteroid (704) Interamnia.
The Martian crater Cerulli is named after him, as are the asteroids (366) Vincentia and (31028) Cerulli.
Giorgio Abetti (1882-1982)
Next to his name, Giorgio Abetti (1882-1982) wrote "Istituto di Fisica Terrestre della R. Università - Napoli" (Institute of Terrestrial Physics of the Royal University of Naples). He made many later visits, most of which were signed with the affiliation Collegio Romano, where he was an astronomer.
From 1921 to 1957, Abetti would be director of the Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri outside Florence. (The observatory is within sight of the villa where Galileo spent the latter part of his life.) During that period, he would lead several solar eclipse expeditions to remote places such as Siberia.
Abetti became vice-president of the International Astronomical Union in 1938. There is a lunar crater named for him. The asteroid (2646) Abetti is named both for him and for his father, Antonio Abetti (also a prominent astronomer).
Religious Scientists: Fr. Giuseppe Piazzi C.R. (1746-1826), Discoverer of the First Asteroid
Giuseppi Piazzi C.R. (1746-1826). Portrait by Constanzo Angelini. Source: INAF.
Today, just under 800,000 asteroids and Trans Neptunian Objects are known and catalogued by the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, with more being discovered every day. However, before 1800 the existence of this entire class of objects was entirely unknown. The first asteroid, which today we know as (1) Ceres, was discovered by an astronomer who was also a priest: Fr. Giuseppe Piazzi C.R.
Biographical Sketch
Giuseppe Piazzi was born July 16, 1746 in Ponte in Valtellina, Italy. He entered the Theatine order in 1765, and was ordained a priest in 1769. While he taught philosophy, theology, and mathematics at various stages of his early life in the order, he also had an interest in astronomy.
He came to Palermo in 1781 as a lecturer in mathematics at the Accademia dei Regi Studi. In 1787, he became professor of astronomy. King Ferdinand of Sicily named him to be the first director of the Palermo Astronomical Observatory.
Ramsden Circle telescope commissioned by Piazzi. (Photo: Robert Macke SJ)
He obtained funding to build the observatory atop the royal palace. He then spent the next few years traveling to other observatories to prepare for the construction of the new observatory and to build his own astronomical skills. His travels took him to Paris and London. In England, he encountered the renowned instrument maker Jesse Ramsden, from whom he commissioned a telescope for the observatory.
He returned to Palermo in 1790, at which time the observatory was officially founded. In 1801 he discovered the asteroid Ceres.
In 1817 he was relocated to Naples to oversee the Capodimonte Observatory, at which time he was named general director of the Naples and Sicily Observatories.
He died in Naples on July 22, 1826.
Scientific Contributions
Piazzi’s most notable contribution was the discovery of the asteroid (1) Ceres.
At that time, the existing model of the solar system included the Titius-Bode law of the relative distances from the planets to the Sun. However, in the pattern of the Titius-Bode law there existed a gap between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that suggested that there should be a planet orbiting at a distance of about 2.8 AU.
"Titius-Bode Law" (blue vertical lines) compared with actual locations of planets. The sequence starts with Mercury at (0+4)/10 AU, then follows each subsequent planet with ((3 * 2^n)+4)/10 AU, where n = 0,1,2,3,4,5. The sequence has a "missing planet" for n=3, corresponding to 2.8 AU.
(It should be noted that the Titius-Bode law seems to be nothing more than a coincidence. Planetary systems around other stars do not conform to the “law,” and when the planet Neptune was discovered it did not fit the pattern either.)
(1) Ceres as photographed by the Dawn spacecraft. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)
On January 1, 1801, using the Ramsden Circle telescope, Piazzi observed an object that moved against the stellar background. He reported it as a comet, but was not convinced because there was no sign of outgassing that accompanies comets.
The object was lost in solar glare before its orbit could be computed, but was relocated later. When its orbit was finally calculated, it was found not to be consistent with a comet. Also, with a semi-major axis of 2.77 AU, it was right where the “missing planet” of the Titius-Bode law should be. Piazzi named this new object “Ceres Ferdinandea,” but the “Ferdinandea” part was dropped later.
Ceres is now classified by the IAU as a dwarf planet, putting it in the same category as Pluto. It was visited by the Dawn space mission in 2015.
Piazzi’s major work at the observatory was supervising the Palermo Catalog of stars. This was a systematic study of more than 7600 stars, whose positions were measured to high precision. He used the study to search for stars that would be good candidates for measuring stellar parallax.
There is a lunar crater named for Piazzi, as is the asteroid (1000) Piazzi. There is also a feature on Ceres that has been informally given the moniker Piazzi.
Special thanks to Ileana Chinnici of the Astronomical Observatory of Palermo / INAF for providing some resources for this post, and for hosting my visit to the observatory in 2015.
Specola Guestbook: October 11, 1909 – Eduard Study
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from October 11, 1909, when Eduard Study made a visit.
Eduard Study
Next to his name, Christian Hugo Eduard Study (1862-1930) wrote "Bonn a. Rh. Argelanderstr. 126" (Bonn am Rhein, Argelanderstraße 126). He signed the guestbook again on April 10 of the following year.
Eduard Study was a mathematician who made significant contributions in the field. At the time of his visit, he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Bonn.
His contributions include the associative algebra of dual quaternions, kinematics, hypercomplex numbers, and, pertaining to quantum chemistry, a theory governing the coupling of angular momenta (that also applied to electron spin couplings).
At least two mathematical concepts bear his name: Study quaternions (aka semiquaternions) and the Fubini-Study metric.
Specola Guestbook: June 5, 1909 – George Ellery Hale
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from June 5, 1909, when George E. Hale made a visit.
Next to his name, George Ellery Hale (1868-1938) wrote "Mt. Wilson Solar Observatory, California."
George Ellery Hale
The year prior to his visit, he used the Zeeman effect--(see the previous post on H. A. Lorentz)--to discover magnetic fields in sunspots.
He also found that, between sunspot cycles, the magnetic polarity of fields through sunspots in northern vs southern hemisphere switches orientation - what is today known as Hale's Law (or the Hale-Nicholson Law).
In 1913, Hale advised Albert Einstein of the possibility of observing the effects of general relativity on starlight passing near the Sun, which he suggested might be possible during a total solar eclipse. This led to the eclipse observing expeditions of Arthur Eddington and others in 1919 that confirmed this aspect of relativity theory.
Hale is perhaps most known for his work organizing the construction of large telescopes. He is responsible for the 40-inch refractor at Yerkes Observatory, the 60-inch Hale telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory, the 100-inch Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson, and the 200-inch Hale telescope at Mt. Palomar.
The reputation of the California Institute of Technology (aka Caltech) as a leading research institution also started largely due to the work of George Hale.
There are craters on the Moon and Mars that bear his name as well as the asteroid (1024) Hale, and the terrestrial mountain Mount Hale in the Sierra Nevada range.
Specola Guestbook: January 15, 1909 – Herbert H. Turner
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from January 15, 1909, when Herbert H. Turner made a visit.
Next to his name, Herbert Hall Turner F.R.S. (1861-1930) wrote "University Observatory, Oxford."
H. H. Turner visited the Vatican Observatory more than once. He also signed our book on May 12, 1910 and during the first IAU General Assembly on May 9, 1922.
Director of the Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford University, he was an astronomer and a seismologist.
In seismology, he discovered deep-focus earthquakes (more than 300 km deep), which occur in subduction zones.
In astronomy, he coined the word "parsec." (A parsec is a unit of distance for a star subtending 1 arcsecond of parallax shift due to 1AU of motion from the observer, or 3.26 light-years. The term became the center of significant unit-based controversy around the movie Star Wars, in which Han Solo claimed the Millennium Falcon did the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.) Turner also played a role in the naming of Pluto.
There is a lunar crater that bears his name, as does the asteroid (1186) Turnera.
Specola Guestbook: December 29, 1908 – Dorothea Klumpke
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from December 29, 1908, when Dorothea Klumpke made a visit.
Next to her name, Dorothea Klumpke Roberts (1861-1942) wrote, "(Mrs. Isaac Roberts) Villa Rosa Bonheur France By-Thomery S. et M. [Seine-et-marne]"
Dorothea Klumpke (1861-1942)
In 1893, she was the first woman to receive a doctorate in the sciences from the Sorbonne. (Possibly the first woman ever to get a doctorate in the sciences [not including mathematics] but I am having some difficulty confirming that.)
She was an astronomer at the Paris Observatory who became the Director of the Bureau of Measurements. She was one of the key participants in the Carte-du-Ciel program. Her research involved astrophotography, measuring star positions, stellar spectroscopy, meteoritical research, and eclipse expeditions.
With her late husband Isaac Roberts (also a notable astronomer, who died in 1904), she had photographed all 52 of the nebulae recorded by Herschel. Her publication of the atlas of these objects in 1929 earned her the Hèléne-Paul Helbronner prize from the French Academy of Sciences.
She endowed the Klumpke-Roberts Award for contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy, which is still awarded annually by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. (Chris Impey, friend of the Vatican Observatory, received the award in 2016.) She also endowed the Prix Dorothea Klumpke-Isaac Roberts for the study of nebulae, which is awarded biannually by the French Academy of Sciences.
She received several honors, including the French Legion of Honor. Two asteroids are named for her: (339) Dorothea and (1040) Klumpkea.