Svante Elis Strömgren

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Svante Elis Strömgren (born May 31, 1870 in Helsingborg , Sweden , † April 5, 1947 in Copenhagen ) was a Swedish-Danish astronomer .

life and work

Strömgren studied from 1887 astronomy at the University of Lund , where he in 1898 with a thesis on determining the orbit of the comet 1890 II doctorate and then worked as a lecturer. From 1901 to 1907 he worked at the University of Kiel as assistant to the editor of the Astronomische Nachrichten , from 1904 also as a private lecturer in astronomy. In 1907 he became professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen and director of the Copenhagen observatory . He held these offices until his retirement in 1940. Successor for the office of director of the observatory in Copenhagen was his son Bengt Strömgren .

Strömgren's scientific work was mainly in the field of celestial mechanics , in particular he was dedicated to double stars , the three-body problem and comets . He calculated the orbits of comets back in time with immense effort for the time and showed that all known comets belonged to the solar system.

Strömgren wrote several popular science books on astronomy and was editor of the Scandinavian magazine Nordisk Astronomisk Tidsskrift for 27 years . Together with his son Bengt, he wrote an astronomy textbook for the students of the University of Copenhagen, which was published in an expanded form in 1933 as a textbook on astronomy in German.

Elis Strömgren was active in several commissions of the International Astronomical Union and a member of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Swedish , Danish , Finnish , Norwegian and Prussian Academy of Sciences.

From 1921 to 1930, Strömgren was chairman of the Astronomical Society . During the period when German and Austrian scientists were ostracized after the First World War , he was keen to achieve reconciliation, so he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1920, 1922 and 1923 . Even after 1933, Strömgren stood up for German colleagues who were harassed by the National Socialist regime.

The asteroid (1422) Strömgrenia and the lunar crater Strömgren were named in his honor.

Works

  • Astronomy Textbook (1933)

literature

  • Knut Lundmark: Svante Elis Strömgren. In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 108 (1948), pp. 37-41.
  • Julie M. Vinter-Hansen: Svante Elis Stromgren. 1870 May 31 - 1947 April 5 . In: Popular Astronomy, 55 (1947), pp. 341-343.
  • Julie M. Vinter-Hansen: Obituary: Svante Elis Stromgren. In: The Observatory 67 (1947), pp. 142-143.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dietrich Lemke and Kalevi Mattila: Nobel Prize for a working group chairman? In: Dietrich Lemke (ed.): Die Astronomische Gesellschaft 1863–2013. Pictures and stories from 150 years. Astronomical Society, Hamburg 2013, pp. 53–59.
  2. ↑ Simon Olling Rebsdorf: The Father, the Son, and the Stars: Bengt Strömgren and the History of Twentieth Century Astronomy in Denmark and in the USA , The Steno Institute, Aarhus 2005
  3. ↑ Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Strömgren
personal data
SURNAME Strömgren, Svante Elis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish-Danish astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsingborg , Sweden
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1947
Place of death Copenhagen