Gart Westerhout

Gart Westerhout (born June 15, 1927 in The Hague , Netherlands , † October 14, 2012 in Catonsville , USA ) was a Dutch astronomer .

Even before he completed his studies at the University of Leiden , Westerhout was already an internationally recognized radio astronomer who specialized in radio sources in the Milky Way , which radiate at 21 cm in the area of the HI line . He emigrated to the USA and held important academic positions in academies and institutes of federal authorities.

Gart studied at the University of Leiden (Sterrewacht te Leiden) together with Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst and Jan Hendrik Oort . Other colleagues of his were u. a. Hugo van Woerden , C. Lex Muller , Maarten Schmidt , Kwee Kiem King , Lodewijk Woltjer and Charles L. Seeger, Jr. During his studies, Wim Brouw , Mike Davis , Ernst Raimond , Whitney Shane and Jaap Tinbergen (1934-2010 ) together.

In 1950 he received the Cand. for physics and astronomy , the Drs. 1954 and the Ph.D. 1958.

Notable scientific achievements by him include the Westerhout Catalog of radio sources, the numbering after the "W" is still in use today, and the research on the HI line. His pioneering work with colleagues first showed signs of a spiral structure in interstellar gas and a differential rotation in our Milky Way. He also established the now standardized galactic coordinate system with zero points for longitude and latitude.

While in Leiden he was assistant, scientific officer (1956–59) and chief scientific officer (1959–62) from 1952 to 1956. In 1962 he was the new director at the University of Maryland . He drove research into the HI line, which led to the Maryland-Green Bank Galactic 21-cm Line Survey .

Westerhout stayed in Maryland until 1973 and was still chairman of the Division of Mathematical & Physical Sciences and Engineering from 1972 to 1973. From 1973 to 1977 he was professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland and temporarily visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn from 1973 to 1974.

From 1977 to 1993 he was Chief Scientific Officer at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC

Westerhout died of heart failure on October 14, 2012 in Catonsville , Maryland . He left 4 children.

When Edward LG Bowell discovered the asteroid (5105) Westerhout , it was named after him.

Awards

NATO Fellowship, CSIRO (Australia) Fellowship, Award for the Teaching of Science, Washington Academy of Sciences, Humboldt Prize, Listed in Outstanding Educators of America , American Men and Women in Science , Who's Who in America

Bibliography (selection)

"The Radio Galaxy," Sci. Am., 201, 45, 1959.
"The Mapping of the Galaxy," In Tomorrow was Yesterday, CBS, George Braziller, New York, 1964.
"Distribution of Interstellar Hydrogen," (with FJ Kerr), ch. 8, in Stars and Stellar Systems, vol. 5, p.166, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1965
"Radio Emission of the Galaxy," Comm. 40 report, IAU Trans. XII A, Acad. Press, 1965.
"Galactic Radio Astronomy," Comm. 40 reports on Astronomy, lAU Trans. XIVA, 460, Reidel, Dordrecht - Holland, 1970.
"Galactic Radio Emission in the 21-cm Line and the Continuum," In Galactic Astronomy, ed. HY Chiu and A. Muriel, p. 147-190, Gordon and Breach, 1971.

Web links

Publications by G. Westerhout in the Astrophysics Data System

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Emily Langer: Gart Westerhout dies at 85.Dutch -born astronomer helped chart Milky Way, built astronomy program at U-Md. Washington Post , accessed October 18, 2012 .

personal data
SURNAME	Westerhout, Gart
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH	June 15, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH	The Hague , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH	October 14, 2012
Place of death	Catonsville , United States

[Washington_Post-1] Emily Langer: Gart Westerhout dies at 85.Dutch -born astronomer helped chart Milky Way, built astronomy program at U-Md. Washington Post , accessed October 18, 2012 .