Tom Gehrels
Tom Gehrels (born February 21, 1925 in Haarlemmermeer ; † July 11, 2011 in Tucson ) was a Dutch- born astronomer who had worked in the United States since 1961 at the University of Arizona .
Career
He was involved in setting up the Spacewatch program to find near-earth asteroids ( NEO = Near Earth Object).
Gehrels discovered several comets , including 64P / Swift-Gehrels , 78P / Gehrels , 82P / Gehrels , and 90P / Gehrels .
He was also involved in the discovery of over 4,329 asteroids, including the Apollo asteroids (1864) Daedalus and (5011) Ptah , the Amorasteroid (4587) Rees , and several asteroids belonging to the Trojan group .
Gehrel's asteroid (1777) is named after him.
He made most of his later discoveries together with the astronomer couple Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld as part of the Palomar-Leiden Survey . Here Gehrels made extensive images of the sky with the 48 '' - Schmidt camera of the Mount Palomar Observatory . The photographic plates were shipped to the Netherlands and analyzed at the University of Leiden to determine asteroids.
During the Second World War Gehrels was a member of the Dutch resistance.
Tom Gehrels is the father of Neil Gehrels .
Publications
- On the Glassy Sea: An Astronomer's Journey , Tom Gehrels, ISBN 0-88318-598-9
- A review of comet and asteroid statistics , Tom Gehrels, Earth Planets Space, 51, 1999 ( PDF )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Minor Planet Discoverers (Alphabetically) , Minor Planet Center list , accessed July 19, 2009
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gehrels, Tom |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch-American astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Haarlemmermeer |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 11, 2011 |
| Place of death | Tucson |