Jaap Tinbergen
Jaap Tinbergen (born December 19, 1934 in The Hague , † June 20, 2010 ) was a Dutch astronomer.
Tinbergen moved to Great Britain with his family in 1949 and studied physics at Cambridge University and computer science at Birmingham University . In 1958/59 he spent two years in the Antarctic doing ionospheric research in the International Geophysical Year . From 1960 he was at the observatory in Leiden and dealt with the polarization of galactic radio radiation at 75 and 50 cm. In 1964 he switched to studying optical photometry and especially polarized light. In 1972 he received his doctorate on precision spectro-polarimetry of light from stars. He studied polarization effects not only in stars, but also in atmospheric light phenomena such as halos and in the atmosphere of Venus . He was considered a leading expert on polarimetric questions in telescopes and developed a multi-purpose photometer for the William Herschel telescope in La Palma . In 1982 he went to the Kapteyn Observatory in Roden near Groningen and in 1996 to the ASTRON in Dwingeloo (the Dutch Institute for Radio Astronomy). But he also remained a member of the Leiden observatory.
Most recently, he dealt with instruments (based on polarimetry) for the search for exoplanets with the Very Large Telescope .
Tinbergen was President of the IAU Commission 25 (Stellar Photometry and Polarimetry) from 1982 to 1985 .
The asteroid (10434) Tinbergen is named after him.
Fonts
- Astronomical Polarimetry, Cambridge University Press 1996
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tinbergen, Jaap |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 19, 1934 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | The hague |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 20, 2010 |