Sidney van den Bergh
Sidney van den Bergh | |
---|---|
Born | Sidney van den Bergh 20 May 1929 |
Occupation | Astronomer |
Awards | Order of Canada |
Sidney Van den Bergh, OC, FRS (born 20 May 1929) is a retired Dutch-Canadian astronomer.[1]
He showed an interest in science from an early age, learning to read with books on astronomy.
He took a faculty position at Ohio State University from 1956 to 1958 before moving to Toronto in 1958 where he spent the first part of his career at the David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) of the University of Toronto.[1] At the DDO, he led innovations that included: expansion of the facilities, utilization of computers, and multicolor photometry.[1] While his areas of focus have included the moon and other parts of the Solar System, he is best known for his work in extragalactic astronomy in which he has published original findings and reviews of nebulae, star clusters, variable stars, supernovae and more recently, an update to the estimated age of the universe.[1] He discovered Andromeda II.[4]
The second part of his career began in 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia, at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory where he was appointed director in 1977 and took office in 1978, remaining in that position until 1986 when he semi-retired and took the new role of principal research officer.[1][5] He has served as president of the Canadian Astronomical Society and as vice-president of the International Astronomical Union from 1972 to 1982.[6]
Beginning in 1982, he started serving as chairman and president of the board of the
Honours
Awards
- Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (1988)
- First National Research Council President's Science Medal (1988)[1]
- Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1990)
- Killam Prize (1990)[2]
- Appointed officer of the Order of Canada (1994)[1]
- Carlyle S. Beals Award (1998)
- Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal (2008)
- Gruber Cosmology Prize (2014)[7]
Named after him
- 4230 van den Bergh, a distant Hildan asteroid[6]
- Comet Van den Bergh (discovered by Van den Bergh in 1974)[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k McNicholl, Martin K., Van den Bergh, Sidney, The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Foundation, retrieved 16 December 2008
- ^ a b c d e Profile: Sidney Van den Bergh, GCS Research Society, 2007, retrieved 17 December 2008
- ISSN 0362-4331
- ISSN 0362-4331
- ^ a b Canadian Asteroids, The Royal Astronomy Society of Canada, 22 July 2008, archived from the original on 1 February 2009, retrieved 19 January 2009
- ^ Belangrijke prijs voor Nederlandse astronoom (in Dutch), Nu.nl/ANP, 10 June 2014, retrieved 10 June 2014