Lyman Spitzer | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Lyman Spitzer Jr. June 26, 1914 Toledo, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | March 31, 1997 (aged 82)[1] Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Resting place | Princeton Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (Ph.D.) Yale University (B.A.) Phillips Academy |
| Known for | Research in star formation and plasma physics Promotion of space telescopes |
| Spouse | Doreen Canaday (m. 1940) |
| Awards | Henry Draper Medal (1974) James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1975) National Medal of Science (1979) Crafoord Prize (1985) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Doctoral advisor | Henry Norris Russell |
| Doctoral students | John Richard Gott Bruce Elmegreen George B. Field J. Beverley Oke Trinh Xuan Thuan J. Michael Shull |
Lyman Spitzer Jr. (June 26, 1914 – March 31, 1997)[2] was an American theoretical physicist, astronomer and mountaineer. As a scientist, he carried out research into star formation and plasma physics and in 1946 conceived the idea of telescopes operating in outer space.[3] Spitzer invented the stellarator plasma device[4] and is the namesake of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. As a mountaineer, he made the first ascent of Mount Thor, with Donald C. Morton.[5]
- ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (2 April 1997). "Lyman Spitzer Jr. Dies at 82; Inspired Hubble Telescope". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ Ostriker, J. P. (2007). "Lyman Spitzer. 26 June 1914 -- 31 March 1997: Elected ForMemRS 1990". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 53: 339–348. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2007.0020. S2CID 70875907.: 339
- ^ "Hubble Essentials: About Lyman Spitzer Jr". Hubble Site.
- ^ Lyman Spitzer Jr. (1958). "The Stellarator Concept". The Physics of Fluids. 1 (4): 253. Bibcode:1958PhFl....1..253S. doi:10.1063/1.1705883. S2CID 11748652.
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Lyman Spitzer", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews