Margaret Burbidge

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Margaret Burbidge (born Eleanor Margaret Peachey) (born August 12, 1919 in Davenport , Greater Manchester ; † April 5, 2020 in San Francisco , California ) was an American astrophysicist of British origin. She was the first female director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory and made important research contributions on quasars , the mass and rotation of galaxies and stellar nuclear fusion , among other things . Together with her husband Geoffrey Burbidge and William Alfred Fowler and Fred Hoyle , she wrote the B2FH theory in 1957 on the formation of light elements through nuclear fusion in the stars ( nucleosynthesis ).

Live and act

Childhood and Education (1919–1939)

Margaret Burbidge was born on August 12, 1919 to Marjorie Stott Peachey and Stanley John Peachey in Davenport, England. Her father was a chemist and taught at the Manchester School of Technology , her mother was his student, whom he married in 1916. Around 1921 the family moved to London, where Stanley Peachey opened his own laboratory. He now worked in industrial chemistry and sold a lucrative patent that would later secure the Peacheys' livelihoods after he fell ill and eventually died when Burbidge was 17 years old. The family, which included a younger sister in addition to Burbidge, lived in a relatively affluent house in Hampstead . Initially, Burbidge attended various private schools, most recently the Francis Holland School for Girls. From 1936 she studied at University College London (UCL), where she chose astronomy as a major and mathematics as a minor. She took lectures with the astronomy lecturer Christopher Clive Langton Gregory (1892-1964), who was also director and initiator of the University of London Observatory (ULO), the UCL observatory in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet . In 1939, Burbidge received a Bachelor of Science degree .

University of London Observatory (1939-1950)

After the beginning of the Second World War , she worked for a few weeks for the Air Raid Wardens, employees of the London air defense . With Hampstead heavily bombed, Burbidge left her parents' home and moved to Mill Hill in Gregory's household. He made her a job offer for the ULO, whose astronomers and technicians were doing military service at the time. Burbidge took on the maintenance and supervision of the observatory's equipment, while she was also able to use the spectrograph and reflecting telescope to prepare for her doctorate . To do this, she researched the physics of the Be stars using the example of Gamma Cassiopeiae . When the staff returned, Burbidge continued to work as a second assistant. In 1943 she obtained her PhD . The year before, she had published part of her dissertation in the text Some recent changes in the spectrum of gamma Cassiopiae , part of which remained unpublished due to the war. She was also unable to attend any further lectures before completing her doctorate, but in 1947, at Gregory's suggestion, she took some of the missed courses at UCL. In the process, she met Geoffrey Burbidge , who was taking the same courses to prepare for his PhD in physics. They married on April 2, 1948.

After the wedding, they joined the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and took part in its first post-war meeting in Zurich in the summer of 1948 . It was there that Burbidge met Otto von Struve , who recommended that she go to the United States on an IAU scholarship because there would be better telescopes and instruments available to her there - a wish she had had for a long time. At first, however, she tried to realize this in Europe. The following year, for example, the Burbidges researched for a few weeks at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence in France, where there was a larger telescope and better conditions for observation. Then they visited the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris to use the micro- photometer there for spectral recordings. In Paris they made friends with Fred Hoyle , who would later become an important partner in their research. In the run-up to the trip to France, the Royal Society had rejected its application for a subsidy on the grounds that the astronomical facilities in the United Kingdom would be sufficient. These and similar experiences made the Burbidges' departure plans more concrete, with Margaret Burbidge preferring the Yerkes Observatory , as Struve was director there and there were no reservations about female scientists. Even when Struve moved to the University of California at Berkeley, she stuck to her plans. From 1948 to 1950 Margaret Burbidge was deputy director and the following year managing director of the University of London Observatory. She took over Gregory's duties, who had previously resigned because the newly created chair of astronomy had been filled with someone else. Eventually, Burbidge's director position was also outsourced.

Yerkes Observatory (1951–1953)

In 1951 the Burbidges traveled to the United States on the Queen Mary on a two-year visa. When they first arrived in New York , they parted ways: Margaret Burbidge had an IAU research fellowship at the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin , while her husband went to Harvard . Burbidge found shelter in George Van Biesbroeck's household . She conducted research with William Albert Hiltner and William Wilson Morgan , who investigated the spiral structure of the Milky Way. In addition to her research in Yerkes, Burbidge was given the opportunity to use the Otto Struve Telescope at the McDonald Observatory . After living briefly with her husband at Harvard in 1952, the two returned to Yerkes as research assistants ( post-doctoral students ) after his fellowship had expired. There Burbidge worked again for Morgan and researched, among other things, the Be star Chi Ophiuchi . From 1951 to 1953 she and her husband published some papers on questions of spectroscopy. At a conference where Gerard Peter Kuiper and Harold C. Urey discussed the abundance of the elements , Burbidge's interest in new topics was aroused, such as the formation of the elements and the evolution of stars. In 1953, the couple attended Michigan Summer School, where they stayed with the astronomer Allan Sandage and became friends with him. Since their visa had expired, they then returned to Europe.

Cambridge (1953–1955)

They moved into an apartment in Cambridge that was near the Cavendish Laboratory . There Geoffrey Burbidge took over a position in Martin Ryle's radio astronomy research group . Margaret Burbidge was not employed at the time. Among other things, she dealt with micro- photometer spectral recordings from Yerkes and McDonald, using instruments from the observatories on Madingley Road . In the fall of 1954, the Burbidges met William Alfred Fowler . From 1954 to 1955 they worked with him and Fred Hoyle, who was also in Cambridge, on a theory about the origin of light elements through nucleosynthesis, which they published in 1957 under the title Synthesis of the Elements in Stars in Reviews of Modern Physics published by the American Physical Society. This trend-setting article was later referred to as the B2FH paper after its authors and was often cited.

California Institute of Technology (1955–1957)

In 1955, the Burbidges traveled to the United States again, this time on a visa aimed at immigration . You also worked on the B2FH theory for the next two years, but at the same time started new positions. Geoffrey Burbidge went to the Mount Wilson Observatory on a Carnegie Fellowship . The same scholarship had previously been denied to Margaret as it was only given to men and women were forbidden to work at the observatory. Instead, she took up a part-time position in nearby Pasadena at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where Fowler also worked. However, under pressure from Allan Sandage and Caltech, she was allowed to live with her husband in a cottage on Mount Wilson and to use the observatory for her astronomical observations. They investigated the relationship between the abundance of the elements and the age of stars by observing A stars with low metallicity . Another project was the study of barium stars . With their increased income, the financial situation of the Burbidges in Pasadena had improved significantly. In November Burbidge became pregnant and so in the spring of 1956 they finished the practical work at the observatory and turned to spectral analysis. Their daughter Sarah was born in the same year. Then they rented a house not far from Caltech and made friends with Walter Baade , who lived nearby and who also influenced their further scientific work.

Yerkes Observatory (1957–1962)

In 1957 the Burbidges were again at a professional crossroads. Roger Revelle , who was building the new campus of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla at the time , submitted both job offers. In addition to the dual employment and the associated higher income, this would have had the advantage that they would have stayed close to Fowler. For their astronomical observations, however, they would still have been bound by the restrictions of the Mount Wilson Observatory. Instead, they decided to go back to Yerkes, where Geoffrey Burbidge had been offered a position as associate professor and they could use the McDonald Observatory. A regulation against nepotism forbade both of them to take up paid jobs there at the same time. But Margaret Burbidge was granted a scholarship through Hiltner's mediation so that she could make a living. In Yerkes they turned to the study of galaxies, particularly Centaurus A, and published several papers on it.

The Burbidges stayed in Yerkes until 1962, often spending the summers in Pasadena and continuing their research. For example, they use Rudolph Minkowski's coordinate measuring machine to analyze their galaxy spectra. In addition to Minkowski, they work there with Walter Baade, Allan Sandage and Milton Lasell Humason . They also visited family friends such as the astronomer Henrietta Hill Swope and Grace Hubble, widow of Edwin Hubble .

University of California, San Diego (from 1962)

From 1962 to 1964 Margaret Burbidge worked in astronomical research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she subsequently held an astronomy professorship. In 1972, Burbidge interrupted this activity to direct the Royal Greenwich Observatory for a year. In contrast to male directors, she was not simultaneously awarded the honorary title of Astronomer Royal , which Burbidge viewed as discrimination. For the same reason, she turned down the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Annie Jump Cannon Prize for Astronomy in 1972 , which is only awarded to women. As a result, the AAS set up a standing committee that dealt with the status of women in astronomy. In 1976, Burbidge became AAS president for two years.

In 1977, Burbidge took American citizenship. From 1979 to 1988 she headed the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at UCSD. There she was involved in the development of the instruments for the Hubble space telescope . In 1983 she was the director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science .

From 1990 Margaret Burbidge was Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of California at San Diego and continued to be active in research.

Geoffrey Burbidge died on January 26, 2010 in San Diego . Margaret Burbidge died of a fall on April 5, 2020 at the age of 100 in her apartment in San Francisco.

Honors

Fonts

  • with Geoffrey R. Burbidge, William Alfred Fowler, Fred Hoyle: Synthesis of the elements in stars. Reviews of Modern Physics 29, 547-650, 1957 ( online ; PDF; 1.5 MB).
  • with Geoffrey R. Burbidge: Quasi-stellar objects. WH Freeman San Francisco 1967.
  • with RP Sinha, T. Velusamy: Lectures on radio galaxies and quasi-stellar objects. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay 1968.
  • with Geoffrey R. Burbidge: The masses of galaxies. University of California, San Diego 1975.
  • with Judith J. Perry, Geoffrey R. Burbidge: Absorption in the spectra of quasi stellar objects and BL lac objects. Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics, Munich 1978.
  • AO 0235 + 164 and surrounding field: surprising HST results. in the series NASA contractor report , National Aeronautics and Space Administration Washington, DC 1996.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ E. Margaret Burbidge, Astronomer Who Blazed Trails on Earth, Dies at 100
  2. ^ A b c Margaret Burbidge biography britannica.com, accessed September 18, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b Oral History Transcript - Dr. Margaret Burbidge aip.org, accessed September 19, 2012.
  4. ↑ a b c d Margaret Burbidge in the Notable Names Database (English)
  5. ^ A b c d e Watcher of the Skies annualreviews.org, accessed September 18, 2012.
  6. ^ Gary Robbins: Famed UC San Diego astronomer Margaret Burbidge dies at 100. In: The San Diego Union-Tribune. April 6, 2020. Accessed April 6, 2020.
  7. ↑ a b c d The Bruce Medalists phys-astro.sonoma.edu, accessed September 18.
  8. ^ American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Book of Members ( PDF ). Retrieved April 15, 2016
  9. ^ Jansky Prize, The Karl G. Jansky Lectureship nrao.edu, accessed September 18.
  10. ^ Member History: Margaret Burbidge. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 25, 2018 .
  11. ^ The President's National Medal of Science , accessed September 18.
  12. ↑ La medaille de L'Adion oca.eu, accessed September 18.
  13. ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 22510
personal data
SURNAME Burbidge, Margaret
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burbidge, Eleanor Margaret (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astrophysicist of British origin
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Davenport , Greater Manchester
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 2020
Place of death San Francisco , California , United States