Joel Stebbins

Joel Stebbins (born July 30, 1878 in Omaha , Nebraska , † March 16, 1966 in Palo Alto , California ) was an American astronomer .

Stebbins is considered one of the pioneers of photoelectric photometry in astronomy. He received his doctorate in science (Ph.D.) from the University of California. From 1903 to 1922 he was director of the Observatory of the University of Illinois and from 1922 to 1948 director of the Washburn Observatory of the University of Wisconsin . After he retired, he continued to conduct research at the Lick Observatory until 1958.

Stebbins and his collaboration with Albert Whitford are to be credited with developing photoelectric photometry from its simplest beginnings in the early 1900s to a mature technique in the 1950s. He made photography the most important method of photometry. Stebbins used the new technique to study interstellar clouds as well as the colors of galaxies and variable stars.

Honors

• 1913 Rumford Prize from the American Academy of Art and Science
• 1915 Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences
• 1920 member of the National Academy of Sciences
• 1921 member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1941 Bruce Medal
• 1950 Royal Astronomical Society gold medal
• 1956 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship from the American Astronomical Association.

In addition, a moon crater and the asteroid (2300) Stebbins were named after him.

Web links

• Publications by J. Stebbins in the Astrophysics Data System
• GE Kron: Joel Stebbins, 1878-1966. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 78 (1966), no. 462., p. 214 (obituary, English)
• RM Genet: Joel Stebbins: Pioneer of Astronomical Photoelectric Photometry. International Amateur-Professional Photoelectric Photometry Communication, No. 6, p. 1. (Obituary, English)