Gerry Neugebauer
Gerry Neugebauer (born September 3, 1932 as Gerhard Otto Neugebauer in Göttingen , † September 26, 2014 in Tucson , Arizona ) was an American astronomer of Austrian-German descent.
Life
Gerry Neugebauer was the son of the astronomer and mathematician Otto Neugebauer , who had to emigrate during the National Socialist era . As a result, he changed his first name from Gerhard Otto to Gerry. He graduated from Cornell University and received his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1960 . During his military service until 1962 he was stationed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory . He spent his scientific career at Caltech, where he was Assistant Professor from 1962 and Full Professor from 1970 until his retirement in 1998. He headed the Palomar Observatory from 1980 to 1994.
Neugebauer is one of the pioneers of infrared astronomy . Together with Robert B. Leighton , he conducted one of the first sky surveys in infrared light, the Two Micron Sky Survey , which discovered over 5500 infrared sources. The Becklin-Neugebauer-Object, a dust-shrouded young star in the Orion Nebula , is named after him and Eric Becklin . On the US side, Neugebauer was the senior scientist of the Infrared Astronomical Satellite .
Honors
- 1973: Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 1975: Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1986: Member of the American Philosophical Society
- 1986: Rumford Prize
- 1996: Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
- 1998: Herschel Medal
- 2010: Bruce Medal
The asteroid (3484) Neugebauer was named in 1989 after his wife Marcia Neugebauer , himself and his father Otto Neugebauer .
literature
- Eric Becklin, Gareth Wynn-Williams: Gerry Neugebauer (obituary) . In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society . tape 160 , no. 4 , 2016, p. 443-447 .
Web links
- Douglas Martin: Gerry Neugebauer, Pioneer in Space Studies, Dies at 82. Obituary in The New York Times of October 2, 2014 (English)
- Tom Soifer: Gerry Neugebauer 1932-2014 obituary on the website of the National Academy of Sciences
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Neugebauer, Gerry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Neugebauer, Gerald; Neugebauer, Gerhard Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 3, 1932 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Goettingen , Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 26, 2014 |
| Place of death | Tucson , Arizona , United States |