Cho Gyeong-chul

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Korean spelling
Hangeul 조경철
Hanja 趙慶哲
Revised
Romanization 		Jo Gyeong-cheol
McCune-
Reischauer 		Cho Kyŏngch'ŏl

Cho Gyeong-chul ( 조경철 , born April 4, 1929 in Sonchon in P'yŏngan-namdo , † March 6, 2010 in Seoul ) was a South Korean astronomer who worked at the US Naval Observatory and NASA .

biography

Cho Gyeong-chul finished his middle and high school courses in Pyongyang and was then admitted to Yonsei University . During the Korean War he served in the South Korean Army and was a professor at the South Korean Military Academy in 1952. In 1954 he graduated from Yonhui University with a degree in physics.

After graduation, he went to the United States and studied politics at Tusculum College in Tennessee, later switched to astronomy at the University of Michigan, and finally received a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Pennsylvania .

He then worked in the 1960s for various companies, observatories and universities, in particular for the United States Naval Observatory and NASA . He returned to South Korea in 1968, where he worked as a professor at Yonsei University and opened a new department for astronomy and space travel. He also became chairman of the Korean Astronomical Society (KAS) and the Korean Amateur Astronomical Society. In 1969 he interpreted the Apollo 11 moon landing in the American Forces Korean Network. While he was interpreting, he got so excited that he fell from his chair. This situation became widespread in Korea, which is why he was nicknamed 아폴로 박사 Apollobaksa ("Dr. Apollo").

He passed away in 2010 after two heart attacks.

Prizes and awards

The asteroid (4976) Choukyongchol , discovered by Kazurō Watanabe in 1991 , was named after Cho Gyeong-chul. The official name was published on November 30, 2001 by the Minor Planet Center .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 4976 Choukyongchol (1991 PM) . In: Minor Planet Center . Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  2. ↑ Park Sung-min: '아폴로 박사' 조경철 박사 별세 (종합) (Korean) . March 6, 2010. 
  3. ↑ MPC / MPO / MPS archives . In: Minor Planet Center . Retrieved November 25, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Cho, Gyeong-chul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 조경철 (Hangeul)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Korean astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Sonchon , P'yŏngan-namdo
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 2010
Place of death Seoul