Michael William Feast

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Michael William Feast
Born(1926-12-29)29 December 1926
Deal, Kent, England
Died1 April 2019(2019-04-01) (aged 92)
Cape Town, South Africa
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
Institutions

Michael William Feast (29 December 1926[1][2] – 1 April 2019) was a British-South African astronomer. He served as Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory from 1976–1992, then became a professor at the University of Cape Town.[3]

His research focussed on the structure of the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and the cosmic distance ladder using variable stars.[4][5]

Career and honours

Feast holds the degrees of BSc (Hons) and PhD from London

Radcliffe Observatory, Pretoria[7] He was also director of the South African Astronomical Observatory from 1976 to 1992.[8]

He received the DeBeers Medal[9] from the South African Institute of Physics in 1992 and the Gill Medal from the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa in 1983.[10][11] Feast was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society,[1] Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa.[12] The University of Cape Town awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1993.[13] Feast was an editor of the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.[14]

His most frequently cited paper (440 times[15]) relates to his pioneering study of the brightest stars in the Magellanic Clouds with Thackeray and Wesselink;[16] see, for example, Hodge (1999).[17]

Much of his work has related to the Cepheid period-luminosity relation,[18] for example that on its zero-point as determined via the Hipparcos satellite[19]

He died in his sleep on 1 April 2019, aged 92.[1]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/astrogeo/atz143
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-903274-17-3
    .
  3. ^ "Honorary Professor Michael W. Feast". Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  4. ^ Warner, Brian (1999). Warner, B. (ed.). Introduction. Variable Stars and Galaxies, a Symposium in Honour of Professor Michael W. Feast ..., Conference Series Vol. 30. Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
  5. ISBN 9781852331061
    .
  6. ^ Feast, Michael. On the Spectra of Gases Exhibited in the High Voltage Arc (PhD). University of London.
  7. ^ Thackeray, A.D. (1972). The Radcliffe Observatory. The Radcliffe Trust..
  8. ^ "South African Astronomical Observatory". Archived from the original on 28 September 2013.
  9. ^ "Past winners of the De Beers Gold Medal". South African Institute of Physics. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  10. Bibcode:1983MNSSA..42...16.
  11. ^ "Gill Medal". Astronomical Society of South Africa. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  12. ^ "Royal Society of SA Fellows". Royal Society of South Africa. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  13. ^ "Honorary degrees awarded". University of Cape Town. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  14. ^ "RAS Committee Members". RAS website. Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  15. ^ "SAO/NASA ADS Custom Query Form Mon Mar 18 14:32:27 2013". Adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  16. doi:10.1093/mnras/121.4.337
    .
  17. IAU
    . pp. 3–7.
  18. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.25.090187.002021
    .
  19. doi:10.1093/mnras/286.1.L1
    .
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