Paul Wild

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Wild at the University of Bern (2006)

Paul Wild (born October 5, 1925 in Wädenswil ; † July 2, 2014 in Wabern near Bern ) was a Swiss astronomer .

Wild attended schools in Glarus and graduated from the Trogen Cantonal School with a high school diploma . Then he studied at the ETH Zurich physics and mathematics from 1944 to 1950, where he assistant at the Swiss Federal Observatory at Max Meier Wald was. In 1951, in the canton of Glarus, he met Fritz Zwicky , who at that time was already professor of astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Zwicky offered Wild an assistant position at Caltech in Pasadena (California) , where Wild then worked from 1951 to 1955. Caltech operated the two astronomical observatories on Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar . Zwicky and Wild explored galaxies and supernovae there . They published their results in three volumes.

In 1955, after returning to Switzerland, Wild became Max Schürer's assistant at the University of Bern . In Bern, he continued to work with Zwicky in the search for further supernovae. From 1971 to 1974 he was a lecturer. In 1974 he received his doctorate. From 1980 to 1991 he was full professor and successor to Schürer as director of the Astronomical Institute.

At the Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Wild discovered around 94 asteroids in the course of his career , including some near-Earth asteroids , and seven comets . His most important discovery is the periodic comet Wild 2 (official name: 81P / Wild), which Wild was the first to observe on January 6, 1978. This comet was selected by NASA as a target for the Stardust mission. Among other things, the probe should capture dust particles from the comet and transport them to Earth.

Wild expressed his joy and pride at the selection of his comet in a handwritten letter to NASA. This letter accompanied the mission on a microchip . The probe returned to Earth on January 15, 2006.

The material brought back from the Stardust mission was analyzed by different research groups. The organic substances (including glycine ) found in the tail of this faraway comet and evidence of the existence of liquid water have attracted worldwide attention.

Wild was the namesake for the asteroid (1941) Wild .

Wild was a member of the International Astronomical Union. From 1988 to 2005 he was President of the Fritz Zwicky Foundation.

Publications

  • The solar corona in sight: in memory of the Zurich astronomer Max Waldmeier. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. No. 244, October 19, 2000, p. 18.
  • Results of the sky monitoring in Zimmerwald . In: Communications from the Natural Research Society in Bern. New series, Volume 32, 1975, p. 36.

Web links

Commons : Paul Wild  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon Gsteiger: A star has gone out. In: The Bund . July 30, 2014, accessed July 30, 2014.
  2. ^ Paul Wild: Memories of Fritz Zwicky. Commemorative address for 100th birthday. Anniversary event of the Zwicky Foundation in 1998
  3. ^ F. Zwicky, E. Herzog, P. Wild: Catalog of Galaxies and of Clusters of Galaxies. California Institute of Technology , 1961 Volume 1, 1963 Volume 2, 1966 Volume 3
  4. ↑ Cecile LeBlanc: Evidence for liquid water on the surface of comet wild-2. from: earthsky.org , April 7, 2011, accessed August 13, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Wild, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss astronomer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Waedenswil
DATE OF DEATH 2nd July 2014
Place of death Bern