Rudolph Minkowski
German-American astronomer
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Rudolph Minkowski (born Rudolf Leo Bernhard Minkowski /mɪŋˈkɔːfski, -ˈkɒf-/;[1] German: [mɪŋˈkɔfski]; May 28, 1895 – January 4, 1976) was a German-American astronomer.[2]
Rudolph Minkowski | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 28, 1895 |
| Died | January 4, 1976 (aged 80) |
| Known for | supernovae |
| Awards | Bruce Medal in 1961 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Palomar Observatory |
Biography
| 1620 Geographos | September 14, 1951 |
Minkowski was the son of Marie Johanna Siegel and physiologist Oskar Minkowski.[4][5] His uncle was Hermann Minkowski, a mathematician and one of Einstein's teachers in Zürich. Rudolph studied supernovae and, together with Walter Baade, divided them into two classes (Type I and Type II) based on their spectral characteristics.[6] He and Baade also found optical counterparts to various radio sources.
He headed the National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, a photographic atlas of the entire northern sky (and south to declination -22°) down to an apparent magnitude of 22.[2]
Together with Albert George Wilson, he co-discovered the near-Earth Apollo asteroid 1620 Geographos in 1951.[7] He additionally discovered a correlation between the luminosity of early-type galaxies and their velocity dispersion,[8] which was later quantified by Faber and Jackson. He won the Bruce Medal in 1961.[2] The lunar crater Minkowski is named after him and his uncle. In the 1940's he created a catalog of nearly 200 planetary nebulae, including Minkowski 2-9,[9] and a dwarf galaxy near NGC 541, known as Minkowski's object, is named after him.[10]
List of discovered astronomical objects
| Name | Discovery Year | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1620 Geographos | 1951 | Asteroid | [7] |
| M1-42 | 1946 | Planetary nebula | [9] |
| M1-63 | 1946 | Planetary nebula | [9] |
| M1-91 | 1946 | Planetary nebula | [9] |
| M1-92 | 1946 | Protoplanetary nebula | [9] |
| M2-9 | 1947 | Planetary nebula | [11] |
| M2-42 | 1947 | Planetary nebula | [11] |
| M4-18 | 1959 | Planetary nebula[a] | [13] |
Bibliography
- Minkowski, R (1960), "International Cooperative Efforts Directed Toward Optical Identification of Radio Sources", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., vol. 46, no. 1 (published Jan 1960), pp. 13–9, Bibcode:1960PNAS...46...13M, doi:10.1073/pnas.46.1.13, PMC 284999, PMID 16590587
