The Bruce Medalists: Jacobus C. Kapteyn

<body bgcolor="#9CCEFF"> <font size="+5"><b><a href="../Intro.html" target="main"><font color="#CC6600">The Bruce Medalists</font></a></b></font> <p>   </p> <table width="100%" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td width = "33%"> </td><td width = "34%" align="center"><a href="kapteyn2.jpg"><img src="kapteyn2Sm.jpg" alt="" height="131" width="91" border="2"></a><td valign="middle"><font size="1">Photo courtesy Prof. Adriaan Blaauw, University of Groningen</font></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><font size="+2"><b><font color="#CC6600">Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn</font></b></font></td> <tr><td width = "33%"><b>19 January 1851</b></td> <td align="cente"r width="34%"><b>1913 Bruce Medalist</b></td> <td align="right"><b>18 June 1922</b></td> </tr> </table> <p>After studies in physics at the <b><a href="http://www.uu.nl/uupublish/homeuu/homeenglish/aboututrechtuniv/4469main.html">University of Utrecht</a></b> Kapteyn spent three years at the <b><a href="http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/outreach/history.php?node=76">Leiden Observatory</a></b>. He founded and built the study of astronomy at the <b><a href="http://www.rug.nl/sterrenkunde/onderzoek/geschiedenis?lang=en">University of Groningen</a></b> from 1878 to 1921. Lacking a telescope, he volunteered to measure photographic plates taken by <b><a href="../Gill/index.html">David Gill</a></b> at the Cape of Good Hope. From this came a catalog of 454,875 southern stars and values for the density of stars in space as a function of distance, brightness, and spectral class. Kapteyn then organized his Plan of Selected Areas by which astronomers worldwide would determine positions and other data for vast numbers of stars. He compiled tables of distances of stars according to their magnitudes and proper motions and of counts of stars by magnitude and position, and he used these for vast statistical studies. Kapteyns model of the sidereal system was valid at high galactic latitudes but failed in the galactic plane because of the lack of knowledge of interstellar absorption. His discovery of star streaming led to the finding of galactic rotation. Kapteyn founded the extremely productive <b><a href="http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/nova/PhD_20thC.html#groningen">Dutch school</a></b> of astronomers.</p> <p> <b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Presentation of Bruce medal</font></fONT></b><br> Curtis, Heber D., <a href="http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1913PASP...25...15C"><i>PASP</i> <b>25</b>,15 (1913)</a>.</p> <p> <b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Other awards</font></fONT></b><br> Government of Germany, <a href="http://www.pourlemerite.org/peace/peace.php">Order Pour le Merite for Arts and Sciences</a>, 1915.<br> National Academy of Sciences, <a href="http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_watson">James Craig Watson Medal</a>, 1913.<br> Royal Astronomical Society, <a href="http://www.ras.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=244&Itemid=104">Gold medal</a>, 1902.</p> <p> <b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Biographical materials</font></fONT></b><br> <a href="http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~heijden/kapteynlinks.html">Kapteyn Links</a><br> <a href="../Blaauw/index.html">Blaauw, Adriaan</a>, <i>Dictionary of Scientific Biography </i><b>7</b>, 235-40.<br>Hertzsprung-Kapteyn, H., <i>The Life and Works of J.C. Kapteyn</i> (Kluwer, Norwell, MA, 1994, transl. by E.R. Paul of book written by Kapteyns daughter in 1928), previously published in <i>Space Science Reviews</i> <b>64</b>, 1/2, iv-xix, 1-92 (1993).<br> Méndez, Javier, <a href="http://www.ing.iac.es/PR/jkt_info/jktjacobus.html">Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes</a><br> Tenn, Joseph S., Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn: The Tenth Bruce Medalist, <a href="KapteynBio.pdf"><cite>Mercury</cite>&nbsp <strong> 20</strong>, 5, 145 (1991).<br> <a href="http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~heijden/kapteynbio.html">University of Leiden</a><br> van der Kruit, P.C. & K. van Berkel, eds., <i>The Legacy of J.C. Kapteyn: Studies on Kapteyn and the Development of Modern Astronomy,</i> (Kluwer, Dordrecht & Boston, 2000). Proceedings of a symposium held in 1999. </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Obituaries</font></fONT></b><br> Crommelin, A.C.D., <i>Nature </i><b>110</b>, 48 (1922).<br> <a href="../Eddington/index.html">Eddington, A.S.</a>, <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A</i> <b>102</b>, xxix-xxxv (1923).<br> <a href="../Eddington/index.html">Eddington, A.S.</a>, <a href="http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1922Obs....45..261."><i>Observatory</i> <b>45</b>, 261-65 (1922)</a>.<br> Jeans, J., <a href="http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1923MNRAS..83..250."><i>MNRAS</i> <b>83</b>, 250-255 (1923)</a>.<br> <a href="../Seares/index.html">Seares, F.H.</a>, <a href="http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1922PASP...34..233S"><i>PASP</i> <b>34</b>, 233-253 (1922)</a>.<br> van Maanen, A., <a href="http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1922ApJ....56..145V"><i>Ap.J.</i> <b>56</b>, 145 (1922).</a> <br> <b><a href="http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/persons/obit/obit_k.html">More obituaries</a></b> </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Photos</font></fONT></b><br> <a href="http://photos.aip.org/images/catalog/kapteyn_jacobus_a1.jsp">AIP Center for History of Physics</a><br> <a href="http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~heijden/kapteyn.html" >University of Leiden</a><br> <a href="http://www.rug.nl/sterrenkunde/onderzoek/geschiedenis?lang=en">Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen</a><br> <a href="kapteyn.jpg">Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington</a></p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Named after him</font></fONT></b><br> <a href="http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/">Lunar crater Kapteyn</a><br> <a href="http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/MPNames.html#K">Minor Planet #818 Kapteynia</a><br> <a href="http://weblore.com/richard/kapteyn's_star.htm">Kapteyns Star</a>  the second fastest star known.<br> <a href="http://www.astro.rug.nl/">Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen</a><br> <a href="http://www.ing.iac.es/PR/jkt_info/">The Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope</a><br> <a href="http://www.mtwilson.edu/Tour/ISI/Kapteyn">Kapteyn Cottage</a> at Mount Wilson<br> <a href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/KapteynSeries.html">Kapteyn Series</a><br> <p><b><font size="+1"><a href="KapteynRefs.html" target="_self">More references</a></font></b></p> <p> <center><b><a href="../index.html" target="_top">The Bruce Medalists</a></b></center> </p> <p> <table width="100%"> <tr> <td valign="TOP"><font size="-1">Please send comments, additions, corrections, and questions to<br> <a href="MAILTO:joe.tenn@sonoma.edu> joe.tenn@sonoma.edu"</a><br></td> <td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><font size="-1"><i> <a href="http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/people/faculty/tenn/">JST</a> </i><br> <a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html">2006-08-13</a></font></td> </tr> </table></body>