Martin Schwarzschild | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1912-05-31)May 31, 1912 |
| Died | April 10, 1997(1997-04-10) (aged 84) |
| Citizenship | German American |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Known for | Schwarzschild criterion |
| Father | Karl Schwarzchild |
| Awards | Newcomb Cleveland Prize(1957) Karl Schwarzschild Medal(1959) Henry Draper Medal(1960) Bruce Medal(1965) Brouwer Award(1992) Balzan Prize(1994) National Medal of Science(1997) Foreign Member of the Royal Society[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Astronomy |
| Institutions | Columbia University[2] Princeton University |
| Doctoral students | Emilia Pisani Belserene |
Martin Schwarzschild (May 31, 1912 – April 10, 1997) was aGerman-American astrophysicist. TheSchwarzschild criterion, for the stability of stellar gas against convection, is named after him.
Schwarzschild was born inPotsdam into a distinguished German Jewish academic family. His father was the physicistKarl Schwarzschild[3] and his uncle the astrophysicistRobert Emden. His sister,Agathe Thornton, became a classics scholar in New Zealand.
In line with a request in his father's will, his family moved toGöttingen in 1916. Schwarzschild studied at theUniversity of Göttingen and took his doctoral examination in December 1936. He left Germany in 1936 for Norway and then the United States.Schwarzschild served in the US army intelligence. He was awarded theLegion of Merit and theBronze Star for his wartime service. After returning to the US, he married fellow astronomer BarbaraCherry (1914–2008).[4][5]In 1947, Martin Schwarzschild joined his lifelong friend,Lyman Spitzer at Princeton University. Spitzer died 10 days before Schwarzschild.[6]
Schwarzschild's work in the fields ofstellar structure andstellar evolution led to improved understanding of pulsating stars, differential solar rotation, post-main sequenceevolutionary tracks on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (including how stars become red giants), hydrogen shell sources, thehelium flash, and the ages ofstar clusters. Schwarzchild was also among the first to use digital computers in the study of astronomy.[7] WithFred Hoyle, he computed some of the first stellar models to correctly ascend thered-giant branch by steadily burning hydrogen in a shell around the core.[8]He and Härm were the first to compute stellar models going through thermal pulses on theasymptotic giant branch[9] and later showed that these models develop convective zones between the helium- and hydrogen-burning shells,[10] which can bring nuclear ashes to the visible surface.Schwarzschild's 1958 bookStructure and Evolution of the Stars[11] taught a generation of astrophysicists how to apply electronic computers to the computation of stellar models.
In the 1950s and ’60s, responding to a challenge by fellow professorJames Van Allen, he headed theStratoscope projects, launching telescopes into thestratosphere with high-altitude balloons. This allowed the photography of astronomical phenomena without atmospheric interference.[12] The first Stratoscope produced high resolution images ofsolar granules andsunspots, confirming the existence of convection in the solar atmosphere, and the second obtained infrared spectra of planets,red giant stars, and the nuclei of galaxies. In his later years he made significant contributions toward understanding the dynamics of elliptical galaxies.
In the 1980s, Schwarzschild applied his numerical skills to building models for triaxial galaxies.[13]
Schwarzschild was the Eugene Higgins Professor Emeritus of Astronomy atPrinceton University, where he spent most of his professional life.[14]
