Sjur Refsdal
Sjur Refsdal (born December 30, 1935 in Oslo ; † January 29, 2009 ibid) was a Norwegian astrophysicist .
Life
Refsdal studied at the University of Oslo and was there in 1970 at the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics as dr. phil (os) doctorate (corresponds more to the German habilitation). From 1970 to 2001 he was a professor at the Hamburg observatory of the University of Hamburg and lived as emeritus in Oslo until his death on January 29, 2009 . He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences .
plant
Refsdal's main interest since 1963 has been the gravitational lensing effect , although he also published some important work on stellar evolution . As early as 1963 he recognized that the quasars that had just been discovered provided cosmic light sources that, with galaxies as lenses, made the gravitational lens effect observable and usable as a tool in astrophysics . He predicted that the mass of galaxies and the age of the universe or the Hubble constant could be determined with this effect . With his PhD student Kyongae Chang he developed the concept of the microgravity lens effect . Since the first gravitational lensing effect was observed in 1979 with the so-called double quasar , theory and observation of this effect has established itself as an important subfield and standard tool in astrophysics.
Awards
- 1994: Honorary doctorate from the University of Liège , Belgium.
- 2005: The Norwegian King's Medal of Merit in Gold.
literature
- P. Schneider, J. Ehlers , EE Falco, Gravitational Lenses, Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1999. The chapter The period 1963-1979 at scolar.google.de [1] .
- J. Schramm, Stars over Hamburg - The History of Astronomy in Hamburg, Chapter Gravitation Lenses, p299ff, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Kultur- & Geschichtkontor , Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811271-8-8
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary , Hamburg observatory
- ↑ Obituary ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Institutt for Teoretisk Astrofysikk, February 2, 2009 (in English)
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated June 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Norwegian report on the award of the Medal of Merit ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Refsdal, Sjur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian astrophysicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 30, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oslo |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 29, 2009 |
| Place of death | Oslo |