- Albert Whitford
Albert Edward Whitford (
October 22 ,1905 –March 28 ,2002 ) was an Americanastronomer .Whitford was born in
Milton, Wisconsin and attendedMilton College . He received his PhD from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison . He served as the director ofWashburn Observatory from 1948 to 1958. From 1958 to 1968 he was the director ofLick Observatory . Later he served on the faculties of both theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Whitford was a pioneer in the field of photoelectric photometry, greatly improving sensitivity. The
Whitford reddening curve , quantifying the interstellar absorption of light, was important in the mapping of the distribution of stars in theMilky Way . He also studied thestar s in galactic nuclear bulges.In 1986 Whitford received the
Henry Norris Russell Lectureship and in 1996 he was awarded theBruce Medal .The
asteroid 2301 Whitford is named in his honor.External links
* [http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/01-02/04-02.whitford.html UCSC Press Release]
* [http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Whitford/index.html Bruce Medalists]
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