Allan Sandage
Allan Sandage | |
---|---|
University of Illinois | |
Known for | Physical cosmology |
Awards | Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy (1957) Eddington Medal (1963) Rittenhouse Medal (1968) National Medal of Science (1970) Elliott Cresson Medal (1973) Bruce Medal (1975) Crafoord Prize (1991) Fellow of the Royal Society[1] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | astronomy |
Institutions | Carnegie Observatories |
Doctoral advisor | Walter Baade |
Allan Rex Sandage (June 18, 1926 – November 13, 2010) was an American
(96155) 1973 HA | 27 April 1973 |
Career
Sandage was one of the most influential astronomers of the 20th century.
Sandage began working at the
Sandage performed photometric studies of globular clusters, and calculated their age to be at least 25 billion years. This led him to speculate that the universe did not merely expand, but actually expanded and contracted with a period of 80 billion years. The current cosmological estimates of the age of the universe, in contrast, are typically of the order of 14 billion years. As part of his studies concerning the formation of galaxies in the early universe, he co-wrote the paper[6] now referred to as ELS after the authors Olin J. Eggen, Donald Lynden-Bell and Sandage, first describing the collapse of a proto-galactic gas cloud into our present Milky Way Galaxy. He later defended the paper in 1990.[7]
In his 1961 paper "The Ability of the 200-inch Telescope to Discriminate Between Selected World Models,"
In 1962 Sandage studied the possibility of directly measuring the temporal variation of the redshift of extra-galactic sources.[11] This analysis became known as the "Sandage–Loeb test".[12]
Sandage discovered jets erupting from the core of the so-called
Sandage was a prolific researcher; during his career he published more than 500 papers. Until his death he continued to be an active researcher at the Carnegie Observatories, still publishing several papers a year.[14]
Personal life
In 1959, Sandage married Mary Connelley, also an astronomer, with whom he had two sons, David and John.[15] In 1983 Sandage announced he had become a Christian[16] and began to write essays on the subject of religion and science.[17] On November 13, 2010, Sandage died of pancreatic cancer at his home in San Gabriel, California. He was 84 years old.[15][18][19][20]
Honors
Awards
- Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy (1957)
- Member of the American Philosophical Society (1962)[21]
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1963)[22]
- Eddington Medal (1963)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1967)
- National Medal of Science (1970)
- Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1972)
- Elliott Cresson Medal (1973)
- Fellow of the Royal Society[1]
- Bruce Medal (1975)
- Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1976)[23]
- Crafoord Prize (1991)
- Member of the American Philosophical Society (1995)[24]
- Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2000)
Named after him
- Main-belt asteroid, 9963 Sandage(1992 AN)
References
- ^ S2CID 72680092.
- ^ "Carnegie Observatories-Pasadena". Archived from the original on 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
- ^ The educational website SuperScholar includes Sandage on its list of "The 20 Most Influential Scientists Alive Today."
- ISBN 978-0007162215.
- doi:10.1086/146483.
- doi:10.1086/147433.
- ISSN 0035-872X.
- doi:10.1086/147041.
- ISBN 978-0-87279-629-4.
- ISBN 978-0-87279-652-2.
- doi:10.1086/147385.
- S2CID 17650751.
- doi:10.1086/147579.
- ^ As shown by a Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory/NASA Astrophysics Data System search that was performed in 2009
- ^ a b Overbye, Dennis (17 November 2010). "Allan Sandage, Astronomer, Dies at 84; Charted Cosmos's Age and Expansion". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- ^ "Allan Sandage". The Telegraph. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
- ISBN 978-0415257671.
- ^ Allan Sandage: Astronomer widely acknowledged as among the most outstanding of the 20th century, The Independent Obituary, 22 November 2010
- PMID 21164471.
- ^ Beich, Eugenie (15 November 2010). "Allan Sandage, surveyor of the cosmos, dies at 84". Nature. Archived from the original on 16 November 2010. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
- ^ "Allan Rex Sandage". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- ^ "Allan R. Sandage". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- Carnegie Cosmologist Allan Sandage Dies,
Sandage joined the staff of the Carnegie Observatories in 1952 and, after Hubble's death in 1953; Sandage became responsible for the cosmology program using telescopes at Mount Wilson and Palomar
Further reading
- Alan P. Lightman and Roberta Brawer, Origins: the lives and worlds of modern cosmologists, Harvard University Press, 1990. Interviews with modern cosmologists, including Sandage.
- S2CID 72680092
- Timothy Ferris, The Red Limit: The Search for the Edge of the Universe, Harper Perennial, 2002. Non-technical description of research, primarily up to about 1980, on cosmology; Sandage was a key figure, and features accordingly.
- Dennis Overbye, Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: the story of the scientific quest for the secret of the Universe, HarperCollins 1991, Back Bay (with new afterword), 1999. Historical account of modern cosmology told through the careers of the scientists involved, in which Sandage is the central character. Complementary to Origins.
- Allan Sandage, The Mount Wilson Observatory. Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Sandage's account of the observatory where he worked, with the background to his own work with Hubble and others.
External links
- Bruce Medalist page on Allan Sandage Archived 2020-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Allan Sandage directory page at the IAU
- Allan Sandage page at The Carnegie Observatories
- Rowan-Robinson, Michael (2011). "Obituaries: Allan Rex Sandage". Physics Today. 64 (6): 64–65. .