Tom Bolton

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Charles Thomas Bolton (* 1943 in Camp Forrest, Tullahoma, Tennessee , USA ) is an American astronomer .

education

He studied at the University of Illinois until his bachelor's degree in 1966. From the University of Michigan he received his master's degree in 1968 and his doctorate in 1970.

From 1970 to 1972 he taught as a postdoctoral fellow at the David Dunlap Observatory at the University of Toronto , where he also carried out his research activities. From 1971 to 1972 he taught at Scarborough College and from 1972 to 1973 at Erindale College. In 1973 he was appointed assistant professor in the astronomy department of the University of Toronto and retired in 2008.

Act

He became famous in 1972 as a co-discoverer of Cygnus X-1 , the first black hole in the Milky Way .

Independently of the similar work of Louise Webster and Paul Murdin at the Royal Greenwich Observatory , he carried out from 1971 to 1972 observations of the star HDE 226868 at the David Dunlap Observatory, which coincided with the X-ray source Cygnus-X1. His calculations showed that the star was moving in orbit around an invisible object with strong X-ray luminosity that was believed to be a black hole. For this and other work he was made a member of the Royal Society of Canada .

His research deals with the spectroscopic observation of stars, especially massive stars, close binary stars , variables , stars with special compositions, stars with strong magnetic fields and stars that lose mass due to winds. He is the author or co-author of over 150 publications, many of them in collaboration with his former students or with other astronomers around the world.

Bolton was instrumental in the passage of Canada's first light pollution ordinance, a 1995 ordinance to limit light pollution in the city of Richmond Hill , Ontario , the site of the David Dunlap Observatory.

Awards

Bolton has received several awards for his work, including a member of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).

Publications (selection)

  • Bolton, Charles Thomas: Identification of Cygnus X-1 with HDE 226868. Nature 235, 271-273 (1972-02-04). ( https://doi.org/10.1038/235271b0 )
  • Douglas R. Gies, Bolton, CT: The optical spectrum of HDE 226868 = Cygnus X-1. II - Spectrophotometry and mass estimates. Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 304, May 1, 1986, p. 371-393. ( https://doi.org/10.1086/164171 )
  • Bolton, Charles Thomas: Orbital elements and an analysis of models for HDE 226868 = Cygnus X-1. Astrophysical Journal, vol. 200, Sept. 1, 1975, pt. 1, p. 269-277. ( https://doi.org/10.1086/153785 )
  • Bolton, Charles Thomas et al .: SPECTRA OF SN 1972E, IN NGC 5253. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 86, Number 512, 1974. ( https://doi.org/10.1086/129627 )
  • Bolton, CT: On the mass of the secondary component of the binary system HDE 226868 = Cygnus X-1. Bulletin of the Astronomical Society, Vol. 5, p. 477, 1973. ( http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1973BAAS....5..477B )
  • Gies, DR; Bolton, CT; Thomson, et al. Wind Accretion and State Transitions in Cygnus X-1 ( https://doi.org/10.1086/345345 )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Charles Thomas Bolton. In: Canadian Museum of History . Retrieved June 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Bolton, Charles Thomas (Tom). In: SCEncyclopedia. Senior College Encyclopedia, accessed June 12, 2019 .
  3. ^ B. Louise Webster & Paul Murdin: Cygnus X-1 — a Spectroscopic Binary with a Heavy Companion? . In: Nature 235, 37-38 (1972) . January 7, 1972. doi : 10.1038 / 235037a0 .
  4. ↑ CT Bolton 1972: Identification of Cygnus X-1 with HDE 226868 . In: Nature 235 : 271-273 (1972) . February 4, 1972. doi : 10.1038 / 235271b0 .
  5. ↑ Lights out for pollution. In: The Star. The Star, accessed June 12, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Bolton, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bolton, Charles Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Camp Forrest, Tullahoma, Tennessee , USA