Harlan James Smith (August 25, 1924–October 17, 1991) was an American astronomer. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Historically Astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky while Astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena
He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of Paul and Anna McGregor Smith. Wheeling is a city in West Virginia, in the United States. Most of the city is in Ohio County, with a small While attending Wheeling High School he was named first runner up in the "Westinghouse National Science Talent Search". Wheeling High School, or WHS, is a public four-year High school located in Wheeling Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago Illinois, in the From 1943 until the end of World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, performing weather observation. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC was the predecessor of the U
Following the war he attended Harvard University, earning a B.A. in 1949. In 1950 he married Joan Greene, and by 1951 had earned his M.S. degree from Harvard. A Master of Science ( Latin: Magister Scientiæ; abbreviated MSc, M He began teaching at the astronomy department at Yale University in 1953, but still completed his Ph.D. from Harvard by 1955. "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation.
In 1963 he was named chair of the University of Texas astronomy department where he also became the director of the McDonald Observatory. The McDonald Observatory is located near the unincorporated community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. At the observatory he oversaw the construction of the 2. 7m telescope he had persuaded NASA to build in support of planetary missions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program From 1966 until 1970 he was a member of the Committee on the Large Space Telescope, an ad hoc group formed by the National Academy of Sciences, the work of which resulted in the Hubble Space Telescope. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS is a corporation in the United States whose members serve Pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science The Hubble Space Telescope ( HST; also known colloquially as "the Hubble" or just "Hubble" is a space telescope that was carried into He also was the chairperson of the NASA Space Science Board from 1977 until 1980, and there helped propose NASA's Great Observatories program. NASA 's series of Great Observatories Satellites are four large powerful space-based Telescopes Each of the Great Observatories has had a similar size and He retired in 1989. During his career he studied variable stars, the radio emission from planets, as well as photometry and astronomical instruments. For the astronomical object see Variable star. Variable Star is a 2006 novel written by Spider Robinson Photometry is a technique of Astronomy concerned with measuring the Flux, or intensity of an Astronomical object 's Electromagnetic With Dorrit Hoffleit, he was the first to observe the optical variability of quasars, and discovered a class of variable stars known as Delta Scuti variables. Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit ( March 12, 1907 &ndash April 9, 2007) was an American senior research Astronomer at Yale University A quasar (contraction of QUASi-stellAR radio source) is an extremely powerful and distant Active galactic nucleus. For the astronomical object see Variable star. Variable Star is a 2006 novel written by Spider Robinson A Delta Scuti variable (also known as a Dwarf Cepheid, AI Velae Star or AI Velorum Star) is a Variable star which exhibits variations in
He was an enthusiastic proponent of educating the public on astronomy, and developed the radio program "Star Date". He also developed "The Story of the Universe", a series of educational films. He was also a proponent of international cooperation, particularly with China which he visited several times. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National He served as co-editor of the Astronomical Journal as well as acting secretary for the American Astronomical Society. The Astronomical Journal is a monthly Scientific journal published by Institute of Physics Publishing on behalf of the American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS sometimes pronounced "double-A-S" is a US society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals
Smith died due to complications related to cancer. Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled He was survived by his wife and four children, along with their grandchildren.
Awards and honors
- NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, 1991.
- A professorship in astronomy at the University of Texas is named after him.
- Asteroid 3842 Harlansmith is named after him. Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but 3842 Harlansmith (1985 FC1 is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on March 21, 1985 by Bowell E
- Harlan crater on the Moon is named after him. Harlan is a lunar crater near the southeastern limb of the Moon.
External links
- Harlan James Smith, 1924-1991
- Wheeling Hall of Fame
- Obituary: Harlan J. Smith, 1924-1991, by James Nathaniel Douglas.
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic