Paul W. Merrill | |
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| Born | Paul Willard Merrill August 15, 1887 (1887-08-15) |
| Died | July 19, 1961 (1961-07-20) (aged 73) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | astronomer |
| Years active | 1913–1952 |
| Known for | Studying unusual stars, particularly long-periodvariable stars, using spectroscopy |
Paul Willard Merrill (August 15, 1887 – July 19, 1961) was an Americanastronomer whose specialty wasspectroscopy.[1] He was the first person to defineS-type stars, in 1922.[2]
Merrill received his Ph.D. at theUniversity of California (nowUC Berkeley) in 1913. He spent the bulk of his career atMount Wilson Observatory, from which he retired in 1952. He studied unusual stars, particularly long-periodvariable stars, using spectroscopy. He also studied theinterstellar medium, includingdiffuse interstellar bands. Shortly before he retired, he succeeded in detectingtechnetium in the variable starR Andromedae and other red variables. Since technetium has no stableisotopes, it must have been produced recently in any star in which it is found, and this is direct evidence of thes-process ofnucleosynthesis.[3][4]
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