Herman Zanstra

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Herman Zanstra (born November 3, 1894 in Schoterland (today: Heerenveen ), † October 2, 1972 in Haarlem ) was a Dutch astronomer .

life and work

Herman Zanstra was born near Heerenveen in Friesland . In 1917 he completed his studies of chemical engineering at the Technical University of Delft from. There he initially worked as an assistant and then, also in Delft , a teacher at a secondary school. During this time he was writing a treatise in theoretical physics on relative motion. In 1921 he went to the USA, where he was able to acquire a doctorate in theoretical physics with the expanded form of his dissertation with William Francis Gray Swann at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis . The dissertation from 1923 was entitled " A Study of Relative Motion in Connection with Classical Mechanics " ( A study of relative motion in connection with classical mechanics ).

After a short time as a National Research Fellow at the University of Chicago , a further year at several laboratories in the Netherlands and Germany and two months at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen with Niels Bohr , he received a postdoc position at the California Institute of Technology . Here he wrote the memoir On Application of the Quantum Theory to the luminosity of Diffuse Nebulae ( A quantum mechanical application to the luminosity diffuse nebula ), the first time a quantitative method, the so-called "Zanstra method" to understand the luminosity of nebulae and comets provided.

In 1937, Zanstra received a four-year scholarship at the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford and in 1939 accompanied the observatory's move to Pretoria in South Africa . During the war he was unable to return to Europe, but found a teaching position in Durban in 1942 . In 1946 he returned to Europe as a professor at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Amsterdam , where he stayed until his retirement in 1959.

Honors

In 1949 Zanstra became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences .

In 1961 he received the gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society in London.

The lunar crater Zanstra and the asteroid (2945) Zanstra are named after him.

literature

  • D. Koelbloed: Levensbericht van Herman Zanstra. In: Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (ed.) Jaarboek. 1972, Amsterdam, pp. 134-137. on-line
  • Donald E. Osterbrock : Herman Zanstra, Donald H. Menzel , and the Zanstra Method of Nebular Astrophysics . In: Journal for the History of Astronomy. Volume 23 (2001), pages 93-107. on-line
  • Stichting Weer- en Sterrenkunde Eemsmond: Herman Zanstra. on-line

Web links

Publications by Herman Zanstra in the Astrophysics Data System ADS

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ D. Koelbloed: Leven van Herman report Zanstra. In: Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (ed.) Jaarboek. 1972, Amsterdam, p. 134.
  2. ↑ Donald E. Osterbrock : Herman Zanstra, Donald H. Menzel , and the Zanstra Method of Nebular Astrophysics . In: Journal for the History of Astronomy. Volume 23 (2001), pages 93-107. available online
  3. ^ Herman Zanstra (1894-1972), KNAW Past Members
  4. ^ Zanstra in the IAU's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
  5. ^ Thomas Hockey: Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers , Springer-Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0 , pages 1257-1258.
personal data
SURNAME Zanstra, Herman
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Schoterland near Heerenveen
DATE OF DEATH 2nd October 1972
Place of death Haarlem