Sidney van den Bergh
Sidney van den Bergh (born May 20, 1929 in Wassenaar in the Netherlands ) is a Canadian astronomer .
Van den Bergh studied at Leiden University and Princeton University , where he earned a bachelor's degree. He earned his master's degree from Ohio State University and his doctorate in 1956 from the University of Göttingen . After two more years at Ohio State University, he spent 19 years at the University of Toronto . Since 1978 he has been at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, which he headed as director until 1986 and to which he remained connected after his retirement in 1998.
Van den Bergh contributed to many areas of observational astronomy. At the David Dunlap Observatory at the University of Toronto, he introduced the DDO classification scheme by dividing the galaxies into luminosity classes from I to V: I = supergiant galaxies, II = bright giant galaxies, III = giant galaxies, IV = subgiant and V = dwarf galaxies . He was an important participant in the discussions of the 1970s through 1990s about the correct value of the Hubble constant .
He received the Gruber Prize in particular for the exact determination of the distance to the nearest galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, and thus the first level of the “ladder” of cosmic distances, which is important for determining the Hubble constant. He also found that the stars on the edge of Andromeda were so old that they must have come from merging with other galaxies in the past.
Honors
- 1990 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
- 1991 The asteroid 4230 Van den Bergh was named after him.
- 1999 Petrie Prize Lecture
- 2008 Bruce Medal
- 2014 Gruber Prize for Cosmology
Web links
- Literature by and about Sidney van den Bergh in the catalog of the German National Library
- biography
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bergh, Sidney van den |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 20, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wassenaar , Netherlands |