Robert Paul Kraft
Robert Paul Kraft (born June 16, 1927 in Seattle - † May 26, 2015 in Santa Cruz , California ) was an American astronomer .
Life
Robert Paul Kraft was born in Seattle and studied at the University of Washington . In 1955 he received his PhD in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley with George Herbig . From 1967 on he held a professorship at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a short time later headed the Lick Observatory for five years as "acting director". From 1981 to 1991 he was head of the Lick Observatory .
At the end of the 1990s, together with Donald Osterbrock , also Lick Observatory, and the German astronomers Werner Pfau and Theodor Schmidt-Kaler , he prevented the leveling of the grave of Walter Baade , one of the most important astronomers of the 20th century, in Bad Salzuflen .
Kraft was President of the American Astronomical Society from 1974 to 1976 and President of the International Astronomical Union from 1997 to 2000 .
plant
Kraft's main field of work was stars and their element abundances as well as the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. He studied the rotation of stars and the properties of variable stars like the Cepheids .
Awards and honors
- 1962 Helen B. Warner Prize
- 1971 member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 1974 member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1995 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
- 2005 Bruce Medal
- The asteroid (3712) Kraft is named after him
Web links
- Robert P. Kraft, eminent astronomer and former director of UC Observatories, dies at age 87
- http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Kraft/index.html
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kraft, Robert Paul |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 16, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Seattle |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 26, 2015 |
| Place of death | Santa Cruz , California |