Leon Mestel

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Leon Mestel (born August 5, 1927 in Melbourne , † September 15, 2017 ) was a British theoretical astrophysicist .

Mestel moved to London with his parents when he was three . He studied at Cambridge University (Trinity College) with a bachelor's degree in 1948 and a doctorate from Fred Hoyle in 1952 (Some problems in stellar structure). He was then at the University of Leeds and in 1954/55 as a Commonwealth Fellow at the Princeton University Observatory . From 1955 to 1966 he was a lecturer at Cambridge and from 1957 to 1966 a fellow at St. John's College. 1967 to 1973 he was a professor at the University of Manchester and then professor at the University of Sussex . In 1992 he retired.

He dealt with stellar astrophysics (structure, development and formation of stars), cosmic and stellar magnetic fields and magnetohydrodynamics in astrophysics.

In 1993 he received the Eddington Medal and in 2002 the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society . In 1952 he became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and 1977 a Fellow of the Royal Society .

Donald Lynden-Bell was one of his PhD students .

In 1961/62 he was at the Institute for Advanced Study and 1966/67 at the Weizmann Institute .

His son Jonathan Mestel (* 1957) is a mathematician and chess grandmaster.

Fonts

  • Stellar Magnetism , Oxford University Press 1999, 2nd edition 2012
  • Astronomy, a mirror to physics , Leeds University Press, 1982
  • Expanding quasar envelopes. 2. Radiation-driven instabilities , Munich Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics 1976
  • Magnetohydrodynamics: Swiss Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, fourth advanced course , Geneva Observatory, 1974

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leon Mestel obituary , The Guardian , accessed September 20, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Mestel, Leon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British astronomer and astrophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH August 5, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne
DATE OF DEATH 15th September 2017