Bertil Lindblad
Wiley Book of Astronomy:
Top
Bertil Lindblad
(1895–1965)
A Swedish astronomer who was the first to propose the rotation of the Galaxy. He graduated from Uppsala and spent nearly all his career at the Stockholm Observatory, of which he was director from 1927 to 1965. Having considered Jacobus Kapteyn's work on moving stellar streams and Howard Shapley's proposal that the center of the Milky Way Galaxy lay tens of thousands of light-years away, he put forward the differential rotation theory—namely, that the speed of rotation of stars about the galactic center depends on their distance. Soon after, in 1927, Jan Oort's observations of stellar motion provided support for Lindblad's views, which inspired a number of Swedish astronomers, including Lindblad's son, Per Olaf (1927–), to specialize in the movements of stars. Lindblad also helped demonstrate the spiral nature of the Galaxy and, in the 1940s, put forward the density wave theory to explain spiral structure.
A Swedish astronomer who was the first to propose the rotation of the Galaxy. He graduated from Uppsala and spent nearly all his career at the Stockholm Observatory, of which he was director from 1927 to 1965. Having considered Jacobus Kapteyn's work on moving stellar streams and Howard Shapley's proposal that the center of the Milky Way Galaxy lay tens of thousands of light-years away, he put forward the differential rotation theory—namely, that the speed of rotation of stars about the galactic center depends on their distance. Soon after, in 1927, Jan Oort's observations of stellar motion provided support for Lindblad's views, which inspired a number of Swedish astronomers, including Lindblad's son, Per Olaf (1927–), to specialize in the movements of stars. Lindblad also helped demonstrate the spiral nature of the Galaxy and, in the 1940s, put forward the density wave theory to explain spiral structure.
Oxford Dictionary of Scientists:
Top
Bertil Lindblad
Swedish astronomer (1895–1965)
Lindblad was born in Örebro, Sweden, and educated at the University of Uppsala where he obtained his PhD in 1920. After two years in America at the Lick and Mount Wilson observatories in California he returned to Uppsala. He was appointed in 1927 to the directorship of the Stockholm Observatory while serving at the same time as professor of astronomy at Stockholm University. He was followed by his son, Per Olof, who became director at the observatory in 1967.
It was Lindblad who in 1926 put forward the fundamental idea of the rotation of our Galaxy. This was based partly on the discovery by Jacobus Kapteyn in 1904 of the two main streams of stars that appear to be moving in opposite directions and also on studies of the motions of stars with high radial velocity. Lindblad realized that these and other phenomena only made sense on the assumption of galactic rotation. Confirmation of Lindblad's conjecture was soon provided by Jan Oort.
Lindblad also studied the structure of the Galaxy and suggested a mechanism by which its spiral structure is sustained.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Bertil Lindblad
| Bertil Lindblad | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 November 1895 Örebro |
| Died | 25 June 1965 (aged 69) Saltsjöbaden |
| Nationality | Sweden |
| Fields | astronomy |
Bertil Lindblad (Örebro, 26 November 1895 – Saltsjöbaden (outside Stockholm, 25 June 1965) was a Swedish astronomer.
After finishing his secondary education at Örebro högre allmänna läroverk, Lindblad matriculated at Uppsala University in 1914. He received his filosofie magister degree in 1917, his filosofie licentiat degree in 1918 and completed his doctorate and became a docent at the university in 1920. From 1927 he was professor and astronomer of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and head of the Stockholm Observatory. In the latter capacity he was responsible for the observatory's move from the old building in the centre of Stockholm to a newly built facility in Saltsjöbaden Observatory, which was opened in 1931.
Lindblad studied the theory of the rotation of galaxies. By making careful observations of the apparent motions of stars, he was able study the rotation of the Galaxy. He deduced that the rate of rotation of the stars in the outer part of the galaxy, where the Sun is located, decreased with distance from the galactic core. This deduction was soon confirmed by Jan Oort in 1927. A certain class of resonances in rotating stellar or gaseous disks are named Lindblad resonances, after Bertil Lindblad.
His son, Per-Olof Lindblad, also became an astronomer.
Honors
Awards
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1948)
- Bruce Medal (1954)
Named after him
External links
- http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/lindblad -- 1954 Bruce Medalist Profile (with portrait)
- Murdin, Paul (2001). Lindblad, Bertil (1895–1965). doi:10.1888/0333750888/3815.
 |
This article about a Swedish scientist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This European astronomer-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Wiley Book of Astronomy
Copyright © 2004 by Wiley-Blackwell. Wiley and the Wiley logo are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Used here by license. Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Scientists
A Dictionary of Scientists. Copyright © Market House Books Ltd 1993, 1999, 2003. All rights reserved.
Read more
Mentioned in
Chia-Chiao Lin
(Chinese–American mathematician)
John Stanley Plaskett
(Canadian astronomer)
Jan Hendrik Oort
(Dutch astronomer)
Year 1926
(in Science & Technology)
» More