Edwin Salpeter
Edwin Ernest Salpeter (born December 3, 1924 in Vienna , † November 25, 2008 in Ithaca , New York ) was an Austro-Australian and American astrophysicist.
Life
As a teenager, Salpeter emigrated from Austria to Australia in 1939 , where he studied physics and mathematics at the University of Sydney . He received his doctorate in 1948 at the University of Birmingham in England, where he worked with Rudolf Peierls . From 1948 he worked at Cornell University , among others with Hans Bethe , on problems of quantum electrodynamics and nuclear physics and later in many areas of theoretical astrophysics . With Bethe he developed the Bethe-Salpeter equation for bound states in quantum field theory. Most recently, he was the James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of the Physical Sciences at Cornell University.
Saltpeter studied nuclear reactions inside stars and the evolution of stars. In 1955 he derived the initial mass function (IMF) of stars, which states the numerical proportions in which stars of different masses are formed.
In 1964, along with Jakow Seldowitsch, he was one of the first to propose accretion disks around black holes as models for quasars and active galaxies. In 1993 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society .
Saltpeter died of leukemia shortly before his 84th birthday .
Honors and memberships
- In 1967, Salpeter was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences .
- 1973 Gold Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society
- 1974 member of the Leopoldina
- 1974 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
- 1977 member of the American Philosophical Society
- 1985 Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomical Society
- 1987 Bruce Medal
- 1996 Dirac Medal from the University of New South Wales
- 1997 Crafoord Prize together with Fred Hoyle
- 1999 Hans A. Bethe Prize
- 2004 namesake for the asteroid (11757) saltpeter
Web links
- Literature by and about Edwin Salpeter in the catalog of the German National Library
- EE Salpeter publications in the Astrophysics Data System
- V. Trimble, Y. Terzian: Edwin E. Salpeter (1924-2008). Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009), No. 4, pp. 1208-1210 (obituary, English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Suzy Collin: Quasars and active galactic nuclei - a half century of agitated story . 2006, doi: 10.1063 / 1.2399629 , arxiv : astro-ph / 0604560
- ^ Entry on Salpeter, Edwin Ernest (1924–2008) in the archive of the Royal Society , London
- ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter S. (PDF; 1.4 MB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Accessed March 11, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Member History: Edwin E. Salpeter. American Philosophical Society, accessed November 7, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Saltpeter, Edwin |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Salpeter, Edwin Ernest (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian-Australian-American astrophysicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 3, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna , Austria |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 25, 2008 |
| Place of death | Ithaca (New York) |