Hermann Carl Vogel

Infobox Scientist
name = Hermann Carl Vogel
box_width =


image_width =150px
caption = Hermann Carl Vogel
birth_date = April 3 1841
birth_place = Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony
death_date = August 13 1907
death_place = Potsdam, German Empire
residence =
citizenship =
nationality = German
ethnicity =
field = Astronomy
work_institutions = Potsdam Observatory
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = Astronomical spectroscopy
author_abbrev_bot =
author_abbrev_zoo =
influences =
influenced =
prizes =
religion =
footnotes =

Hermann Carl Vogel (April 3 1841 – August 13 1907) was a German astronomer. He was born in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony.

Vogel pioneered the use of the spectroscope in astronomy. He applied this instrument to chemically analyze planetary atmospheres and to determine the Sun's rotational period using the Doppler effect.

In 1882, Vogel became the Director at the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam. and he is best known for a discovery he made there in 1890. Vogel found that the spectra of certain stars shifted slightly over time, moving toward the red and then later toward the blue. His interpretation of this result was that the star was moving toward and then away from the Earth, and that the accompanying spectral shifts were the result of the Doppler effect. These stars appeared to be orbiting around a hidden center of mass, and thus they were double-star systems. However, in each case the companion star could not be resolved using a telescope, and so these double-star systems were designated spectroscopic binaries.

By obtaining periodic Doppler shifts in the components of Algol, Vogel proved that the latter was a binary star; thus, Algol was one of the first known spectroscopic binaries (and it is also known to be an eclipsing binary).

Honors

Awards
* Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1893)
* Henry Draper Medal (1893)
* Landskroener Medal of Achievement (1898)
* Richard C. White Purple Honors Medal (1899)
* Bruce Medal (1906)

Named after him

* Vogel crater on the Moon
* Crater on Mars

Further reading

*

External links

* [http://phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Vogel Short biography]