Walter Sydney Adams (December 20, 1876 – May 11, 1956) was an American astronomer. Events 69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor. Year 1876 ( MDCCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Historically Astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky while Astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena

Life and work

He was born in Antioch, Syria to missionary parents, and was brought to the U.S. in 1885^[1] He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1898, then continued his education in Germany. Antioch on the Orontes (Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ Μεγάλη Antiochia ad Orontem also Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Dartmouth College ( is a private, Coeducational University located in Hanover, New Hampshire, U Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. After returning to the U. S. , he began a career in Astronomy that culminated when he became director of the Mount Wilson Observatory. The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO is an Astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County California.

His primary interest was the study of stellar spectra. Astronomical spectroscopy is the technique of Spectroscopy used in Astronomy. He worked on solar spectroscopy and co-discovered a relationship between the relative intensities of certain spectral lines and the absolute magnitude of a star. Spectroscopy was originally the study of the interaction between Radiation and Matter as a function of Wavelength (λ A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from an excess or deficiency of photons in a narrow frequency range compared In Astronomy, absolute magnitude (also known as absolute visual magnitude) is the Apparent magnitude an object would have if it were at a standard He was able to demonstrate that spectra could be used to determine whether a star was a giant or a dwarf. In 1915 he began a study of the companion of Sirius and found that despite a size only slightly larger than the Earth, the surface of the star was brighter per unit area than the Sun and it was about as massive. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky with a visual Apparent magnitude of &minus1 EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. Such a star later came to be known as a white dwarf. A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small Star composed mostly of Electron-degenerate matter. Along with Theodore Dunham, he discovered the strong presence of carbon dioxide in the infrared spectrum of Venus. The VENUS ( V ictoria E xperimental N etwork U nder the S ea project is a cabled sea floor observatory operated by the University

Adams died in Pasadena, California. Pasadena ( is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.

Honors

Awards

• The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1917)
• The Henry Draper Medal (1918)
• The Bruce Medal (1928)
• The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1947)

Named after him

• The asteroid 3145 Walter Adams. The Gold Medal is the highest award of the Royal Astronomical Society. The Henry Draper Medal was established by the widow of Henry Draper, and is awarded by the U The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to Astronomy. The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but 3145 Walter Adams (1955 RY is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on September 14, 1955 by Goethe Link Observatory at Brooklyn
• A crater on Mars. In the broadest sense the term impact crater can be applied to any depression natural or manmade resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with larger body
• The Adams crater on the Moon is jointly named after him, John Couch Adams and Charles Hitchcock Adams. Adams is a lunar Impact crater that is located in the rugged southeastern section of the Moon, near the lunar limb John Couch Adams ( June 5 1819 &ndash January 21, 1892) was a British Mathematician and Astronomer Charles Hitchcock Adams (1868 &ndash 1951 was an amateur American Astronomer.

References

1. ^ F. J. M. Stratton. "Walter Sydney Adams. 1876-1956. " Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 2. (Nov. , 1956), pp. 1-18.

• Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Isaac Asimov, Doubleday & Co. Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian , Inc. , 1972, ISBN 0-385-17771-2. The year 1972 in literature involved some significant events and new books
• F. Wesemael, "A comment on Adams' measurement of the gravitational redshift of Sirius B", Royal Astronomical Society, Quarterly Journal (ISSN 0035-8738), 26, Sept. 1985, 273-278

External links

• Bruce Medal page
• Awarding of Bruce Medal
• Awarding of RAS gold medal

Obituaries

• MNRAS 117 (1957) 243
• Obs 76 (1956) 139
• PASP 68 (1956) 285

Further Reading

• Wright, Helen (1970). "Adams, Walter Sydney". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. The Dictionary of Scientific Biography is a scholarly reference work that was published from 1970 through 1980 New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 54-58. ISBN 0684101149.