Nicholas U. Mayall

Nicholas U. Mayall
Upper body of a serious and dignified man in his fifties, with graying hair combed back and in a dress jacket with white shirt and a bolo tie and with his hands coupled together on top of some books.
Born(1906-05-09)May 9, 1906
Moline, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJanuary 5, 1993(1993-01-05) (aged 86)
Tucson, Arizona
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsMount Wilson Observatory
Lick Observatory
Kitt Peak National Observatory
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

Nicholas Ulrich Mayall (May 9, 1906 – January 5, 1993) was an American observational astronomer. After obtaining his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, Mayall worked at the Lick Observatory, where he remained from 1934 to 1960, except for a brief period at MIT's Radiation Laboratory during World War II.

During his time at Lick, Mayall contributed to astronomical knowledge of nebulae, supernovae, spiral galaxy internal motions, the redshifts of galaxies, and the origin, age, and size of the Universe.[1][2] He played a significant role in the planning and construction of Lick's 120-inch (3.0 m) reflector, which represented a major improvement over its earlier 36-inch (0.91 m) telescope.

From 1960, Mayall spent 11 years as director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory until his retirement in 1971. Under his leadership KPNO, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, developed into two of the world's top research observatories, equipped with premier telescopes.[3] Mayall was responsible for the construction of the 4-meter (160 in) Kitt Peak reflector, which was named after him. When Mayall died in 1993, his ashes were spread high on an empty ridge of Kitt Peak.

  1. ^ Osterbrock 1996, pp. 208–9
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYTimes1993 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Osterbrock 1996, pp. 205–8