Carlyle S. Beals | |
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| Born | Carlyle Smith Beals (1899-06-29)June 29, 1899 Canso,Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | July 2, 1979(1979-07-02) (aged 80) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Education | Acadia University(BA) University of Toronto(MA) Imperial College London(PhD) |
| Known for | Research onWolf-Rayet andP Cygni stars, theInterstellar Medium and meteoriteimpact craters. Assistant Director of theDominion Astrophysical Observatory, Dominion Astronomer at theDominion Observatory. |
| Awards | Henry Marshall Tory Medal(1957), Leonard Medal, Order of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Society[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Doctoral advisor | Alfred Fowler |
Carlyle Smith Beals,OCFRS[1] (June 29, 1899 – July 2, 1979) was aCanadianastronomer.
Carlyle Smith Beals was born inCanso,Nova Scotia to Rev. Francis H. P. Beals and his wife, Annie Florence Nightingale Smith Beals, on June 29, 1899.[2] He is the brother of artist and educatorHelen D. Beals.[3]
Beals received aBachelor of Arts degree fromAcadia University in 1919, specializing in physics and mathematics.[4][1] Although he wished to continue his studies, he was forced to postpone those plans due to poor health. He taught at a small country school in Nova Scotia during the winter of 1920.[4]
He began his Ph.D. studies in physics atYale University in 1921, but was forced to return home in the winter of 1921 when his health failed again. He resumed his graduate studies in 1922 atUniversity of Toronto and received a master's degree in Physics in 1923.[4][1] His master's thesis work ontriboluminescence spectra, the frequencies of light generated by breaking chemical bonds, was done under the supervision ofJohn Cunningham McLennan, one of the leading physicists in Canada at the time.[1]
Beals spent one year as the Science Master at the High School of Quebec inQuebec City, before enrolling in a graduate programme in physics in 1924 at theRoyal College of Science atImperial College London.[2] Working underAlfred Fowler, he studied theZeeman effect and the spectra ofpalladium,copper, and ionizedsilver. During this time Beals became acquainted with observational astronomy by using the small observatory in the Royal College of Science building. He received a Ph.D. in 1926.[1]
After obtaining his PhD, Beals returned to Acadia University as an assistant professor of physics, but left one year later for an Assistant Astronomer position at theDominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO),Victoria, British Columbia.[1][4] Beals worked at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory from 1927 until 1946, becoming Assistant Director of the DAO in 1940.[4]
At the DAO, he studiedemission lines in thespectra of hot stars and gas clouds in theinterstellar medium. His work established a reliable temperature scale for hotter stars, based on their spectra.[5] He showed that the broad emission lines seen inWolf-Rayet andP Cygni-type stars were due to strongstellar winds.[6][7] Beals was the first astronomer to quantitatively measure the ratio of sodium and calciumabsorption lines in theinterstellar medium (the gas between stars) and the ratio of the two lines in thesodium D doublet.[1] He also found that rather than being uniform, the interstellar medium was clumpy and moved with different velocities.[8][9][4]
During his time at the DAO, he developed several astronomical instruments to analyse astronomical spectra, including a self-recording micro-photometer and a high efficiency gratingspectrograph.[10][4]
DuringWorld War II, Beals spent two-year researching defenses againstchemical weapons and designedgas masks.[1]
In 1946, he left the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia and began work at theDominion Observatory inOttawa, Ontario. He was appointed Dominion Astronomer one year later, and began to rebuild the observatory's scientific programme, which had suffered due to budget cuts during the great depression and a lack of staff during World War II.[4] He also oversaw the establishment of theDominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, nearPenticton, British Columbia.[11]
While in Ottawa, he became interested in the geophysical activities of the observatory. He began a study ofmeteoriteimpact craters in theCanadian shield, searching for circular features in aerial photographs and organising drill core studies of the most promising targets.[12][4]
He retired in 1964, but continued his work on impact craters and published several works during his retirement.
Beals was elected a fellow of theRoyal Society of Canada in 1933. He was president of Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada from 1949-1950, and received theHenry Marshall Tory Medal from the Society in 1957 for outstanding achievement in scientific research.[4][1]
He served as president of theRoyal Astronomical Society of Canada from 1951-1952.[13] He also served as president of theAmerican Astronomical Society from 1962-1964, the only Canadian to hold the position.[1][14]
In March 1951, Beals was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of London.[1] In 1966, he was awarded the inauguralMeteoritical SocietyLeonard Medal for his work on identifying Canadian impact craters.[15][1] In 1969, he was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada.[16]
Beals received honorary degrees fromAcadia University, theUniversity of New Brunswick,Queen's University and theUniversity of Pittsburgh.[1]
The Carlyle S. Beals Award was established by the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) in 1981.[17]
The asteroid3314 Beals and the craterBeals on theMoon are both named for Beals.
In 1931, Beals married Miriam White Bancroft, a professional musician and piano teacher.[1] She was the daughter ofJoseph Bancroft, a longtimeLiberal member of theNova Scotia House of Assembly. The couple adopted a daughter, Janitza.[1][4]
Beals died on July 2, 1979, aged 80.[citation needed]
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)There is a Carlyle Bealsfonds atLibrary and Archives Canada.[18] Archival reference number is R15735.
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