Donald Howard Menzel | |
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| Born | April 11, 1901 |
| Died | December 14, 1976 (1976-12-15) (aged 75) |
| Alma mater | University of Denver Princeton University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy,astrophysics,star formation |
| Institutions | Lick Observatory,Harvard,Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
| Doctoral advisor | Henry Norris Russell |
| Doctoral students | Jesse L. Greenstein,Elsa van Dien,Fred Whipple |
Donald Howard Menzel (April 11, 1901 – December 14, 1976) was one of the first theoreticalastronomers andastrophysicists in the United States. He discovered the physical properties of the solarchromosphere, the chemistry of stars, the atmosphere of Mars, and the nature of gaseous nebulae.[1][2]
Born inFlorence, Colorado in 1901 and raised inLeadville, he learned to read very early, and soon could send and receive messages inMorse code, taught by his father. He loved science and mathematics, collected ore and rock specimens, and as a teenager he built a large chemistry laboratory in the cellar. He made a radio transmitter at a time when kits were rarely available and qualified as aradio ham. He was anEagle Scout, specializing incryptanalysis, as well as an outdoorsman, hiking and fly fishing throughout much of his life. He married Florence Elizabeth Kreager on June 17, 1926. They had two daughters, Suzanne Kay and Elizabeth Ina.
At 16, he enrolled in theUniversity of Denver to studychemistry. His interest in astronomy was aroused through a boyhood friend (Edgar Kettering), through observing thesolar eclipse of June 8, 1918, and through observing the eruption of Nova Aquilae 1918 (V603 Aquilae). He graduated from the University of Denver in 1920 with abachelor's degree in chemistry and stayed on to receive amaster's degree in chemistry and mathematics from the institution in 1921. He also found summer positions in 1922, 1923, and 1924 as research assistant toHarlow Shapley at theHarvard College Observatory.
AtPrinceton University he acquired a second master's degree in astronomy in 1923, and in 1924 a Ph.D. in astrophysics for which his advisor wasHenry Norris Russell, who inspired his interest in theoretical astronomy. After teaching for two years at theUniversity of Iowa andOhio State University, in 1926 he was appointedassistant professor atLick Observatory of theUniversity of California inSan Jose, California, where he worked for several years. He moved toHarvard University in 1932.
DuringWorld War II, Menzel was commissioned as alieutenant commander in theUnited States Navy and asked to head a division of intelligence, where he used his many-sided talents, including deciphering enemy codes. Even until 1955, he worked with the Navy improving radio-wave propagation by tracking the Sun's emissions and studying the effect of the aurora on radio propagation for theDepartment of Defense.[3][4] Returning to Harvard after the war, he was appointed acting director of theHarvard Observatory in 1952, and was the full director from 1954 to 1966. His colleague Dr. Dorrit Hoffleit recalls one of his first actions in the position was asking his secretary to destroy a third of the plates sight unseen, resulting in their permanent loss from the record.[5] The term "Menzel Gap" was used to refer to the 1953–1968 absence ofastronomical photographic plates when plate-making operations were temporarily halted by Menzel as a cost-cutting measure.[6] He retired from Harvard in 1971. From 1964 to his death, Menzel was aU.S. State Department consultant forLatin American affairs.
Menzel was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1934,[7] theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1943,[8] and the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences in 1948.[9] He received honorary A.M. and Sc.D. degrees from Harvard University in 1942 and the University of Denver in 1954 respectively. From 1946 to 1948 he was the vice president of theAmerican Astronomical Society, becoming their president from 1954 to 1956. In 1965, Menzel was given the John Evans Award of the University of Denver. In May 2001, theCenter for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian hosted "Donald H. Menzel: Scientist, Educator, Builder," a symposium in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Donald H. Menzel.
Menzel traveled with several expeditions to viewsolar eclipses to obtain scientific data. On 19 June 1936, he led the Harvard-MIT expedition to the steppes of Russia (atAkbulak inOrenburg Oblast, southernUral) to observe a total eclipse. For the 9 July 1945 eclipse, he directed the Joint U.S.-Canadian expedition toSaskatchewan, although they were clouded out. Menzel observed many total solar eclipses, often leading the expeditions, includingCatalina, California (10 September 1923, cloudy),Camptonville, California (28 April 1930),Fryeburg, Maine (31 August 1932),Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota (30 June 1954), the Atlantic coast ofMassachusetts (2 October 1959), northernItaly (15 February 1951),Orono, Maine (20 July 1963, cloudy),Athens/Sunion Road,Greece (20 May 1966),Arequipa, Peru (12 November 1966),Miahuatlan, south ofOaxaca, Mexico (7 March 1970),Prince Edward IslandCanada (10 July 1972), and westernMauritania (30 June 1973), in addition to the other three mentioned above.[10] He proudly held the informal record for greatest number of observed solar eclipses, a "title" later broken by his student, colleague, and co-authorJay Pasachoff.
In the late 1930s, he built an observatory for solar research atClimax, CO, using a telescope that mimicked a total eclipse of thesun, allowing him and his colleagues to study thesolar corona and to film the spouting flames, calledprominences, emitted by the Sun. Menzel initially performed solar research, but later concentrated on studying gaseousnebulae. His work withLawrence Aller andJames Gilbert Baker defined many of the fundamental principles of the study ofplanetary nebulae. He wrote the first edition (1964) ofA Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, part of thePeterson Field Guides. In one of his last papers,[12] Menzel concluded, based on his analysis of the Schwarzschild equations, thatblack holes do not exist, and he declared them to be a myth.
He also believed in the EPH (exploded planet hypothesis), stating, 'Presque toutes ces petites planètes circulent entre les orbites de Mars et Jupiter. On admet qu'elles représentent les fragments dispersés d'une grande planète qui se serait désintégrée.'[13]
Menzel was a science fiction author; his "Fin's Funeral" appeared inGalaxy Science Fiction in 1965.[14] He was also an artist, creating watercolor paintings of alien creatures and scenes which often featured three-dimensional "holes" though characters, clouds, and alien spaceships.[15][16]
Menzel wrote the first edition ofA Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, published in 1964 byHoughton Mifflin, which rapidly became a best-seller. Subsequent editions were prepared after Menzel's death by his studentJay Pasachoff; the current version is one of thePeterson Field Guides.
In Chapter IV of the first edition, Menzel apportions all 88 of the modern constellations recognized by theInternational Astronomical Union into eightbroad families, as a way to help observers remember where the constellations are located.[17]
The families are organized by common location or common theme. The Ursa Major, Perseus, Hercules, and Orion families include mainly constellations in the general vicinity of those four constellations. The Zodiac family includes the traditional twelveZodiac constellations. The Heavenly Waters family includes mostly constellations generally associated with water. The Bayer family includes southern constellations first introduced byPlancius and subsequently included inJohann Bayer'sUranometria in 1603. The La Caille family includes most of the constellations introduced byLacaille in 1756 from stars charted during his observations at Cape Town.
| Menzel Family | Constellations in the family |
|---|---|
| Ursa Major | Boötes,Camelopardalis,Canes Venatici,Coma Berenices,Corona Borealis,Draco,Leo Minor,Lynx,Ursa Major,Ursa Minor |
| Zodiac | Aquarius,Aries,Cancer,Capricornus,Gemini,Leo,Libra,Pisces,Sagittarius,Scorpius,Taurus,Virgo |
| Perseus | Andromeda,Auriga,Cassiopeia,Cepheus,Cetus,Lacerta,Pegasus,Perseus,Triangulum |
| Hercules | Aquila,Ara,Centaurus,Corona Australis,Corvus,Crater,Crux,Cygnus,Hercules,Hydra,Lupus,Lyra,Ophiuchus,Sagitta,Scutum,Serpens,Sextans,Triangulum Australe,Vulpecula |
| Orion | Canis Major,Canis Minor,Lepus,Monoceros,Orion |
| Heavenly Waters | Carina,Columba,Delphinus,Equuleus,Eridanus,Piscis Austrinus,Puppis,Pyxis,Vela |
| Bayer | Apus,Chamaeleon,Dorado,Grus,Hydrus,Indus,Musca,Pavo,Phoenix,Tucana,Volans |
| La Caille | Antlia,Caelum,Circinus,Fornax,Horologium,Mensa,Microscopium,Norma,Octans,Pictor,Reticulum,Sculptor,Telescopium |
These families have little currency today, and recent editions of the field guide no longer mention them.
In addition to his academic and popular contributions to the field ofastronomy, Menzel was a prominent skeptic concerning the reality ofUFOs. He authored or co-authored three popular booksdebunking UFOs:Flying Saucers - Myth - Truth - History (1953),[18][19]The World of Flying Saucers (1963, co-authored with Lyle G Boyd),[4] andThe UFO Enigma (1977, co-authored withErnest H. Taves).[20] All of Menzel's UFO books argued that UFOs are nothing more than misidentification of prosaic phenomena such as stars, clouds and airplanes; or the result of people seeing unusual atmospheric phenomena they were unfamiliar with. He was among the first prominent scientists to offer an opinion on the matter. One of Menzel's earliest public involvements in UFO matters was his appearance on aradio documentary directed and narrated byEdward R. Murrow in mid-1950. (Swords, 98)
Menzel claimed to have his own UFO experience on 3 March 1955 while returning from theNorth Pole on the dailyAir Force Weather "Ptarmigan" flight. His account is in both Menzel & Boyd[4] and Menzel & Taves,[20] in which he identified the 'flying saucer' he observed, as a mirage ofSirius (Steuart Campbell claimed that it was a mirage ofSaturn).[21] Menzel often explained that atmospherichazes ortemperature inversions could distort stars or planets, and make them appear to be larger than in reality, unusual in their shape, and in motion.
In 1968, Menzel testified before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Astronautics – Symposium on UFOs, stating that he considered allUFO sightings to have natural explanations.
In 1922 he discovered theMenzel 3 nebula, informally known as the Ant Nebula. The minor planet1967 Menzel was named in his honor,[22] as well as a smalllunar crater located in the southeast of Mare Tranquilitatis, the Sea of Tranquility.[23]
image provided by Icshi.net
Menzel published over270 scientific and other papers.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)He also wrote a popular account of astronomy:A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets Including the Moon, Satellites, Comets and Other Features of the Universe (1975); 2nd edition (1984) by Menzel and Pasachoff, 3rd edition (1992) by Pasachoff and Menzel, 4th edition (2000) by Pasachoff.
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