Adriaan Blaauw

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Adriaan Blaauw
Groningen, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Alma materLeiden University
University of Groningen
Known forStar formation
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsKapteyn Astronomical Institute
European Southern Observatory
Leiden University

Adriaan Blaauw (12 April 1914 – 1 December 2010) was a Dutch astronomer.

Blaauw was born in Amsterdam to Cornelis Blaauw and Gesina Clasina Zwart,[1] and studied at Leiden University and the University of Groningen, obtaining his doctorate at the latter in 1946. In 1948, he was appointed an associate professor at Leiden. In the 1950s he worked a few years at the Yerkes Observatory, before returning to Europe in 1957 to become director of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen.[2] Blaauw was closely involved in the founding of the European Southern Observatory, and was its general director from 1970 to 1975.[2] In 1975, he returned to the

distance scale. His main contributions are the explanation of the origin of stars that move with high velocity in our galaxy and the description of star formation in associations.[2]

Among his many honours he was made member of the

Groningen
.

Honors

Asteroid 2145 Blaauw is named for him.

References

External links