Joel Stebbins | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1878-06-30)June 30, 1878 |
| Died | March 16, 1966(1966-03-16) (aged 87) |
| Alma mater | University of Nebraska |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign andUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Doctoral advisor | William Wallace Campbell |
Joel Stebbins (July 30, 1878 – March 16, 1966) was an Americanastronomer who pioneeredphotoelectricphotometry inastronomy. He was director of theUniversity of Illinois Observatory from 1903 to 1922 where he performed innovative work with theselenium cell.[1] In 1922 he became director of theWashburn Observatory at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison where he remained until 1948. After 1948, Stebbins continued his research atLick Observatory until his final retirement in 1958.
Stebbins brought photoelectric photometry from its infancy in the early 1900s to a mature technique by the 1950s, when it succeededphotography as the primary method of photometry. He used the new technique to investigateeclipsing binaries, the reddening of starlight byinterstellar dust, colors ofgalaxies, andvariable stars.
Joel Stebbins was born inOmaha, Nebraska, on July 30, 1878, the son of Charles Stebbins, an office worker at theUnion Pacific Railroad and his wife Sara Ann née Stubbs. Stebbins had two sisters, Eunice and Millicent.
He attended elementary and high school in Omaha, before entering theUniversity of Nebraska in 1896. He received hisBachelor of Science (BS) degree in 1899, and remained for a year as a graduate student before leaving for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he studied astronomy at the Washburn Observatory underGeorge C. Comstock.[2]
Stebbins published his first paper, concerning thelight curve ofNova Persei with Comstock in 1901. He then received a fellowship from theUniversity of California's Lick Observatory. He earned hisDoctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree there under the supervision ofWilliam Wallace Campbell, writing a thesis on thespectra ofOmicron Ceti. His was only the third PhD to be awarded for astronomy by the University of California. His thesis was subsequently published in theAstrophysical Journal in 1903.[2]
Even before Stebbins received his doctorate, he took a job as an instructor in astronomy at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and director of theUniversity of Illinois Observatory. He married May Louise Prentiss, who had been a classmate at the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln on June 27, 1905.[3] They had two children, a son, Robert, and a daughter, Isabelle.[4]
Stebbins began making observations with a polarizingphotometer. Frustrated by its use, he worked with F.C. Brown to develop a photometer based on a selenium cell. Beginning in 1907, Stebbins began the first measurements using the selenium cell photometer first on the moon and then later, as the sensitivity of the instrument was improved, on variable stars. He examinedeclipsing binaries such asAlgol starting in 1910. By 1913,Henry Norris Russell had developed the theory of eclipsing binaries, and Stebbins realized that there were many undiscovered ones. He soon found thatBeta Aurigae andDelta Orionis were eclipsing binaries. Further discoveries followed.[5]
The development of thephotoelectric cell byJakob Kunz revolutionized astronomical photometry. Kunz's photoelectric cells were many times more sensitive than what was available commercially and therefore able to detect faint star light. In 1915, Stebbins used the new photometers to examineBeta Lyrae, a more irregular binary system. The new equipment allowed observations of increasingly faint stars. Stebbins work was recognized with theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences'Rumford Prize in 1913, and theUnited States National Academy of Sciences'Henry Draper Medal in 1915.[6] The University of Illinois Observatory has been designated aNational Historic Landmark based on the significance of Stebbins's and Kunz's work.
In 1922, Stebbins relocated to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he became the director of the Washburn Observatory in succession to George C. Comstock. Stebbins conducted systematic photometric studies of theO-type andB-type main-sequence stars andglobular clusters. In later years, he became interested incosmic dust.[7] His students includedOlin J. Eggen,Charles M. Huffer,Gerald Kron andAlbert Whitford.[8]
Stebbins retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Washburn Observatory in 1948 at the age of seventy, and then went to work at the Lick Observatory, collaborating with Gerald Kron, who had once been his student. They used photometric methods to obtain new values for theluminosity of theCepheids. This confirmedWalter Baade'sextragalactic distance scale.[9]
Having dealt with the bright Cepheids, Stebbins and Kron used photometric techniques to study the Sun, which is orders of magnitude brighter than any other object in the sky. Obtaining an accurate assessment of its stellar color andmagnitude. He retired for good at the age of eighty.[9]
Stebbins also contributed toornithology, with his pioneering paper, with E.A. Fath,The Use of Astronomical Telescopes in Determining the Speeds of Migrating Birds.[10]
In his later years, he suffered fromleukaemia. He died atPalo Alto hospital on March 16, 1966. He was survived by his wife May, son Robert and daughter Isabelle.[4] Some of his papers are in the University of Illinois Archives,[11] but most of his correspondence and scientific papers are preserved in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives.[12]
Some of his correspondence, related especially to his early and later days at Lick Observatory, resides in the Mary Lea Shane Archive of Lick Observatory, which is held at the archives of the University of California-Santa Cruz.[13]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
