Gart Westerhout

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Gart Westerhout (* 15. Juni 1927 in Den Haag, Niederlande) ist ein niederländischer Astronom.

Noch bevor Westerhout seine Studien an der Universität in Leiden absolvierte, war er bereits international ein anerkannter Radioastronom, der sich auf Radioquellen in der Milchstrasse spezialiserte, die im Bereich der HI-Linie bei 21 cm strahlen. Er emigrierte in die USA und hatte wichtige wissenschaftliche Stellungen in Akademien und Instituten von Bundesbehörden inne.

Gart studierte an der Universität von Leiden (Sterrewacht te Leiden) zusammen mit Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst und Jan Hendrik Oort. Weitere Kollegen von ihm waren u.a. Hugo van Woerden, C. Lex Muller, Maarten Schmidt, Kwee Kiem King, Lodewijk Woltjer und Charles L. Seeger, Jr.. Während des Studium arbeiteten mit ihm Wim Brouw, Mike Davis, Ernst Raimond, Whitney Shane und Jaap Tinbergen zusammen.

1950 erhielt der den Cand. für Physik und Astronomie, den Drs. 1954 und den Ph.D. 1958.

Bemerkenswerte wissenschaftliche Errungenschaften von ihm sind unter anderem der Westerhout Catalog von Radioquellen, der Nummerierung nach dem "W" noch heute in Gebrauch ist und die Forschungen an der HI-Linie. Seine Pionierarbeiten mit Kollegen zeigte als erstes Anzeichen einer Spiralstruktur bei interstellarem Gas und einer differentielle Rotation in unserer Milchstrasse. Ferner etablierte er das nun standardisierte galaktische Korrdinatensystem mit den Nullpunkten für Länge und Breite.

Während er in Leiden war, war er von 1952 bis 1956 Assistent, Scientific Officer (1956-59) und Chief Scientific Officer (1959-62). 1962 war er neuer Direktor an der University of Maryland. Er trieb die Erforschung der HI-Linie voran, was zur Maryland-Green Bank Galactic 21-cm Line Survey führte.

Westerhout blieb bis 1973 in Maryland und war von 1972-73 noch Vorsitzender der Division of Mathematical & Physical Sciences and Engineering. Von 1973 bis 1977 war er Professor für Astronomie an der University of Maryland und zeitweise Gastprofessor am Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR) in Bonn von 1973-74.

Von 1977-1993 war er wissenschaftlicher Chef am U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.

Westerhout hat 4 Kinder und lebt derzeit (Stand: 2006) in Baltimore.

Als Edward L. G. Bowell den Asteroiden 5105 Westerhout entdeckte wurde er nach ihm benannt.

[Bearbeiten] Auszeichnungen

NATO Fellowship, CSIRO (Australia) Fellowship, Award for the Teaching of Science, Washington Academy of Sciences, Humboldt Preis, Auflistung in Outstanding Educators of America, American Men and Women in Science, Who's Who in America

[Bearbeiten] Bibliographie

A. Papers in wissenschaftlichen Magazinen

l. Astronomie

• "A Comparison of the Intensity Distribution of Radio-Frequency Radiation with a Model of the Galactic System," (with J. H. Oort), Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 11, 323, 1951.
• "The Rotation of the Inner Parts of the Galactic System," (with K. K. Kwee and C. A. Muller), Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 12, 211, 1954.
• "Search for Polarization of the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A at 22 cm Wavelength," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 12, 309,1956.
• "The Flux Densities of some Radio Sources at 400 Mc/s," (with C. L. Seeger and H. C. van de Hulst), Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 13, 89, 1956.
• "Continuous Radiation from the Direction of the Galactic Centre at 22 cm," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 13, 105, 1956.
• "A Catalogue of 21-cm Line Profiles," (with C. A. Muller), Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 13, 151, 1957.
• "The Distribution of Atomic Hydrogen in the Outer Parts of the Galactic System," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 13, 201, 1957.
• "Observations of Occulations of the Crab Nebula by the Moon at 400 Mc/s," (with C. L. Seeger), Bull Astron. Inst. Neth., 13, 312, 1957.
• "Intensites Relatives des Quatre Principales Radiosources Observees sur la Longueur d'Onde 22 cm; Note sur la Radiosource Saggittarius A", Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, 245, 35, 1957.
• "Observations of Discrete Sources, the Coma Cluster, the Moon, and the Andromeda Nebula at a Wavelength of 75 cm.," (with C. L. Seeger and R. G. Conway), Astrophys. J., 126, 585, 1957.
• "A Survey of the Continuous Radiation from the Galactic System at a Frequency of 1390 Mc/s," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 14, 215, 1958.
• "Note on the Density of Ionized Hydrogen in the Galactic System," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 14, 261, 1958.
• "The Galactic System as a Spiral Nebula," (with J. H. Oort and F. J. Kerr), Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc., 118, 379, 1958.
• "The New I.A.U. System of Galactic Coordinates," (with A. Blaauw, C. S. Gum and J. L. Pawsey), Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc., 121, 123, 1960.
• "A 21-cm Determination of the Principal Plane of the Galaxy," (with C. S. Gum and F. J. Kerr), Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc., 121, 132, 1960.
• "Die Durchmusterung Der Milchstrasse Und Die Quellendurchmusterung Bei 2.7 Gllz," (with W. Altenhoff, P. G. Mezger and H. Wendker), Veroffentl. Sternwarte 59, Bonn, November 1961.
• "The Polarization of the Galactic 75-cm Radiation," (with C. L. Seeger, W. N. Brouw and J. Tinbergen), Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 16, 187, 1962.
• "The Structure of the Galaxy from Radio Observations," I.E.E.E. Trans., AP-12, 954, 1964.
• "A Survey of the Continuous Radiation at 400 Mc/s," (with C. L. Seeger, R. G. Conway and T. Hoekema), Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 18, 11, 1965.
• "A Catalogue of Discrete Sources Observed at 400 Mc/s," (with M. M. Davis and L. Gelato-Volders), Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 18, 42, 1965.
• "21-cm Line Emission in Open Clusters," (with W. E. Howard and C. Gordon), Astrophys. J., 154, 103, 1968.
• "The Maryland - Green Bank Galactic 21-cm Line Survey" (with H.-U.Wendlandt), Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. 49, 143, 1982.
• "Telescope Beam Characteristics and Temperature Scale of the Maryland- Green Bank 21-cm Line Survey" (with G.L.Mader and R.H.Harten), Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. 49, 137, 1982.
• "Astrometry and Precise Time", with G.M.R.Winkler, Oceanus 33, 89-95. 1991

2. Instrumente oder Techniken

• "Table for the Reduction of Velocities to the Local Standard of Rest" (with D. A. MacRae), The Observatory, Lund, Sweden, 1956.
• "A Method for Accurate]y Compensating for the Effects of the Error Beam of the NRAO 300-foot Radio Telescope at 21-cm Wavelength," (with H.-U. Wendlandt and R. H. Harten), Astron. J., 78, 569, 1973.
• "Hydrogen 21-cm Line Temperature scale", (with R.H.Harten and F.J.Kerr), Astron.J., 80, 307, 1975

B. Papers die bei wissenschaftlichen Treffen präsentiert wurden

1. Invited papers

• "Kosmische Bronnen Van Radiostraling," (with H. C. van de Hulst), Sterr. Coll. Ned. Astr. Club., 13, 1956.
• "A 21-cm Line Survey of the Outer Parts of the Galaxy," In IAU Symp. 4, ch. 5, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1957.
• "Progress Report on 21-cm Research by the Netherlands Foundation for Radio Astronomy and the Leiden Observatory," In IAU Symp 4, ch. 4, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1957.
• "Galactic Radiation and its Physical Interpretation", Introductory Report, Comm. V, URSI 13th General Assembly, London, 1960.
• "A Summary of our Knowledge of the Neutral Hydrogen in Galaxies", In Problems of Extra-Galactic Research, McMillan and Co., New York, 1962.
• "Current Radio Astronomical Research in the Netherlands", Proc.I.R.E. Austr., 24, 214, 1963.
• "The Interpretation of Recent 21-cm Line Data in Terms of Large-Scale Galactic Structure," IAU Symp. 20, Australia, 1963.
• "Observation and Interpretation of Optical and Radio Polarization," IAU Symp. 20, Australia, 1963.
• Three Years of Galactic Radio Astronomy," Proc. of URSI General Assembly, Tokyo, 1963.
• "Brightness Temperatures Expected for a Radio Telescope with High Resolving Power," In Proc. OECD Symp. on Large Antennae, Paris, 1963.
• "Site Requirements, In Proc. OECD Symp. on Large Antennae, Paris, 1963.
• "The Early History of Radio Astronomy", In International Conference on Education in and History of Modern Astronomy, ed. R. Berendzen, Ann. New York Acad. Sci., 198, 211, 1972.
• "Some Remarks on the Ideal Automated Observatory," In NRAO/IEEE/URSI Symp. on the Collection and Analysis of Astrophysical Data, ed. R. Burns, Astron. Astrophys. Suppl., 15, 327, 1974.
• "The Influence of Acquisition Techniques on the Compilation of Astronomical Data", in IAU Colloquium 35 on Data Compilation, Strasbourg 1976, ed. Jaschek and Wilkins, Reidel, Dordrecht, Astrophys. and Space Sc. Lib 64, 49, 1977
• "Future Development in U.S. Naval Observatory Time Services",

Proc. 9th Ann. PTTI meeting, NASA Tech. Mem. 78104, 1, 1978

• "Radio Astrometry and Other Accurate Astrometry Plans at the U.S. Naval Observatory", ESA Colloquium on European Satellite Astrometry, Padua, Ed. C.Barbiery and P.L.Bernacca, Universita di Padova 1979
• "Space Astrometry - its Impact on Astronomy and Astrophysics", Highlights of Astronomy Vol.5, 779, Ed. P.A.Wayman, Reidel Dordrecht 1980
• "Early Dutch Radio Astronomy", URSI General Assembly Comm. J, Washington 1981, Ed. W.T.Sullivan (not published).
• "The Pioneers of HI", in "Seeing through the Dust", eds. A.R.Taylor, T.L.Landecker, A.G.Willis, Astron. Soc. Pacific Conf.Ser. 276, 3, 2002
• "The Start of 21-cm line Research: the Early Dutch Years", in "Seeing Through the Dust", eds. A.R.Taylor, T.L.Landecker, A.G.Willis, Astron. Soc. Pacific Conf.Ser. 276, 3, 2002

2. Contributed papers

• "75-cm and 22-cm Continuum Surveys," In IAU Symp. 9, ch. 80, Stanford Univ. Press, 1959.
• "75-cm Galactic Background Polarization: Progress Report," (with W. N. Brouw, C. A. Muller and J. Tinbergen), Astron. J., 67, 590, 1962.
• "Radio Studies of HII Regions and Galactic Structure," (with M. Komesaroff), IAU Symp. 20, Australia, 1963.
• "Galactic 21-cm Iine Observations at Green Bank," Astron. J., 69, 152, 1964.
• "Preliminary Observations of 21-cm Line Emission in Open Clusters," (with W. L. Howard), Astron. J., 70, 688, 1965 (Abstract).
• "The Maryland-Green Bank Galactic 21-cm Line Survey'", IAU Symp. 31, Noordwijk, Netherlands, 173, Acad. Press, 1967.
• "A Motion Picture Film of Galactic 21-cm Line Emission," IAU Symp. 38, paper 19, ed. G. Contopoulos and R. Becker), Reidel, Dordrecht, 1970.
• "A High-Resolution Polarization Survey of the North Polar Spur," (with D. Bechis), ln IAU Symp. 60, ed. F. J. Kerr and S. C. Simonson, Springer Verlag, 1974.
• "Progress Report on the Maryland-Green Bank Galactic 21-cm Line Survey, In IAU Symp. 60, ed. F. J. Kerr and S. C. Simonson, Springer Verlag, 1974.
• "The U.S.Naval Observatory Parallax Program" (with R.H.Harrington), Bull. d'Inf. Centre de Donnees Stell. 20, 24, 1981
• "Data on Time and Polar Motion: Immediate Accessibility" (with D.D.McCarthy), I.A.U. Colloq. 64, Automated Data Retrieval in Astronomy, Strasbourg, Ed. C.Jaschek, Reidel Dordrecht, 1982
• "U.S.Naval Observatory Parallaxes and the Fundamental Reference Frame - their Interaction with Hipparcos" (with J.A.Hughes), ESA Colloquium on Space Astrometry, Strasbourg 1982
• "Concluding Remarks," in IAU Symposium 109, Astrometric Techniques, H.K. Eichhorn and R. J. Leacock (eds), Reidel Dordrecht, 799-803, 1986
• "Fricke's Influence on the World of Astronomy," Celestial Mechanics 37, 345-348, 1985
• "The USNO/CALTECH Measuring Program" (with D. Monet), Bull d'Information du CDS 37, 75-78, 1989
• "Concluding Remarks," Bull d'Information du CDS 37, 91-92, 1989
• "Astrometry: New Vitality for an Ancient Science," Aerospace America 27, No. 10, 34-37, 1989
• "The Flagstaff Measuring Machine" (with D. Monet), in IAU Symposium 141, Inertial Coordinate System on the Sky, J.H.Lieske and V.K.Abalakin, Eds., Kluwer Dordrecht 1990
• "Concluding Remarks", in IAU Symposium 141, Inertial Coordinate System on the Sky, J.H.Lieske and V.K.Abalakin, Eds, Kluwer Dordrecht, 1990

C. Bücher

• "The Radio Galaxy," Sci. Am., 201, 45, 1959.
• "The Mapping of the Galaxy, In Tomorrow was Yesterday, C.B.S., George Braziller, New York, 1964.
• "Distribution of Interstellar Hydrogen," (with F. J. Kerr), ch. 8, in Stars and Stellar Systems, vol. 5, p.166, Univ. of Chicago Press,1965
• "Radio Emission of the Galaxy," Comm. 40 report, IAU Trans. XII A, Acad. Press, 1965.
• "Galactic Radio Astronomy," Comm. 40 reports on Astronomy, lAU Trans. XIVA, 460, Reidel, Dordrecht - Holland, 1970.
• "Galactic Radio Emission in the 21-cm Line and the Continuum," In Galactic Astronomy, ed. H. Y. Chiu and A. Muriel, p. 147-190, Gordon and Breach, 1971.

D. Technische Berichte und anderes

• "The Maryland-Green Bank Galactic 21-cm Line Survey," first edition, University of Maryland, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 1966.
• "Maryland-Green Bank 21-cm Line Survey," second edition, University of Maryland Astronomy Program, 1969.