Beatrice Tinsley

Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley (27 January 1941 – 23 March 1981) was a British-born New Zealand

Beatrice Hill Tinsley was born 1941 in Chester, England, as the middle of three daughters of Jean and Edward Hill.^[1] The family emigrated to New Zealand following World War II, first living in Christchurch, and then for a longer time in New Plymouth, where her father, Edward Hill, was a clergyman, Moral Re-Armer, and later became the mayor (1953–56).

While studying in

Despite receiving recognition for her work, Tinsley was unable to find a permanent academic position. In 1974, after years of attempting to balance home, family and two commuting careers, she left her husband and two adopted children to take a position as assistant professor at Yale.[1] On 1 July 1978 she was appointed a professor of astronomy at Yale, becoming the first woman to hold the position.^[4] She worked at Yale until her death from melanoma in the Yale Infirmary in 1981. Her ashes are buried in the campus cemetery.

Professional activity

Tinsley completed pioneering theoretical studies of how populations of stars age and affect the observable qualities of galaxies. She also collaborated on basic research into models investigating whether the universe is closed or open. Her galaxy models led to the first approximation of what protogalaxies should look like.

In 1974 she received the

Shortly after, in 1978, she became the first female professor of astronomy at Yale University.^[6] Her last scientific paper, submitted to The Astrophysical Journal ten days before her death, was published posthumously that November, without revision.^{[7][note 1]}

Death

Tinsley died of melanoma on 23 March 1981, aged 40.^[1][4]

Tributes

In 1986 the American Astronomical Society established the Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize, which recognises "an outstanding research contribution to astronomy or astrophysics, of an exceptionally creative or innovative character."^[8] It is the only major award created by an American scientific society which honours a woman scientist. The award is not made with restriction on a candidate's citizenship or country of residence.^[8]

The

The University of Texas at Austin established from endowment in 1989 the Beatrice M. Tinsley Centennial Visiting Professorship, where a distinguished mid-career or senior professor is invited to visit for up to a semester.[10] In 2007 they added the Tinsley Scholars, awards for younger researchers to briefly visit Austin.^[10]

In 2005, the

The Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand established the Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lectures^[14] in 2012.

Beatrice Tinsley Crescent in Rosedale, on Auckland's North Shore, is named for her.^{[citation needed]}

On 27 January 2016, the 75th anniversary of her birth, Google published a Doodle to honour her work.^[15] In the same year, the New Zealand Association of Scientists renamed the Research Medal the Hill Tinsley Medal in Tinsley's honour.^[16] In 2017, Tinsley was one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating women's contribution to knowledge in New Zealand.^[17]

Her obituary was published by The New York Times several decades later on 18 July 2018,^[1] in their "Overlooked" project, which aims to note "the stories of remarkable people whose deaths went unreported in The Times".^[18]

In 2018, the Yale Society of Physics Students began an inaugural prize lecture in honour of Tinsley.^[19]

A 2019 $1.20 New Zealand postage stamp in a series of "New Zealand Space Pioneers" honours her.^[20]

The University of Canterbury College of Science named their staff and postgraduate building after Tinsley, which was opened in October 2019 by the Honourable Dr Megan Woods, Vice-Chancellor Cheryl de la Rey, and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Science Professor Wendy Lawson.^[21] The building uses Pres-Lam technology developed at the university.^[22]

The final track on the 2022 Forenzics album Shades and Echoes, "Autumn", is credited "Words by NZ astronomer Beatrice Hill Tinsley – adapted with permission by T. Finn".^[23]

Selected publications

• "An accelerating universe". 1975. Nature 257: 454–457 (9 October 1975); doi:10.1038/257454a0
• "Correlation of the Dark Mass in Galaxies with Hubble type". 1981. Royal Astronomical Society, Monthly Notices. vol. 194, p. 63–75
• "Relations between Nucleosynthesis Rates and the Metal Abundance". 1980. Astronomy and Astrophysics. vol. 89, no. 1–2, p. 246–248
• "Stellar Lifetimes and Abundance Ratios in Chemical Evolution". 1979. Astrophysical Journal. Part 1, vol. 229, p. 1046–1056
• "Colors as Indicators of the Presence of Spiral and Elliptical Components in N Galaxies". 1977. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. vol. 89, p. 245–250
• "Surface Brightness Parameters as Tests of Galactic Evolution". 1976. Astrophysical Journal. vol. 209, p. L7–L9
• "The Color-Redshift Relation for Giant Elliptical Galaxies". 1971, Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol. 12, p. 394

Notes

References