Frank John Kerr
Frank John Kerr (born January 8, 1918 in St Albans , England , † September 15, 2000 in Silver Spring , Maryland ) was an Australian astronomer who helped to better understand the structure of the Milky Way.
Kerr was born to Australian parents in St. Albans, England. In 1940 Kerr was a member of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Sydney Australia .
Kerr studied physics at the University of Melbourne and received his MA in astronomy from Harvard University in 1951.
In Australia in 1951, Kerr used a purpose-built 36-foot telescope and mapped the Magellanic Clouds . In doing so, he discovers neutral hydrogen and a halo around both clouds. From 1954 to 1955, Kerr was a member of a group that determined the rotation of the Magellanic Clouds and their masses. Over the years he has worked with several well-known astronomers, including Colin Stanley Gum and Gart Westerhout .
From 1966 to 1968 he held a visiting professorship, then until his retirement in 1987 a professorship at the University of Maryland, College Park .
Web links
- Publications by FJ Kerr in the Astrophysics Data System
- G. Westerhout: Frank John Kerr, 1918-2000. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 32 (2000), No. 4, pp. 1674–1676 (obituary, English)
- Physics Today 2001 ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- Bright Sparcs
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kerr, Frank John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 8, 1918 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St Albans , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 15, 2000 |
| Place of death | Silver Spring , Maryland , USA |