Gart Westerhout

Gart Westerhout ( born June 15, 1927 in The Hague, The Netherlands, † 14 October 2012 in Catonsville, USA ) was a Dutch astronomer.

Even before Westerhout completed his studies at Leiden University, he was already internationally renowned radio astronomer who specialized in radio sources in the Milky Way, which radiate in the HI line at 21 cm. He emigrated to the USA and had important scientific positions held in academies and institutes of federal agencies.

Gart studied at the University of Leiden ( Sterrewacht te Leiden) together with Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst and Jan Hendrik Oort. Other colleagues from him were, inter alia,. Hugo van Woerden, C. Lex Muller, Maarten Schmidt, Kwee Kiem King, Lodewijk Woltjer and Charles L. Seeger, Jr. During his studies he worked with Wim Brouw, Mike Davis, Ernst Raimond, Whitney Shane and Jaap Tinbergen (1934 - 2010) together.

1950, he was awarded Cand. of Physics and Astronomy, Drs in 1954 and the Ph.D. In 1958.

Remarkable scientific achievements of his include the Westerhout catalog of radio sources, the numbering after the "W" still in use today, and the research on the HI line. His pioneering work with colleagues showed the first signs of spiral structure in interstellar gas and a differential rotation in the Milky Way. He also established the now standard galactic coordinate system with the zero points for length and width.

While he was in affliction, he was from 1952 to 1956 Assistant, Scientific Officer ( 1956-59 ) and Chief Scientific Officer ( 1959-62 ). In 1962, he was the new director at the University of Maryland. He spurred the exploration of HI- line, resulting in the Maryland Green Bank Galactic 21- cm Line Survey.

Westerhout remained until 1973 in Maryland and was from 1972-73 still chairman of the Division of Mathematical & Physical Sciences and Engineering. From 1973 to 1977 he was professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland and at times visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy ( MPIfR) in Bonn from 1973-74.

From 1977 to 1993 he was a research chef at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC

Westerhout died on October 14, 2012 of heart failure in Catonsville, Maryland. He left behind four children.

When Edward LG Bowell asteroid ( 5105 ) Westerhout discovered, he was named after him.

Awards

NATO Fellowship, CSIRO (Australia) Fellowship Award for the Teaching of Science, Washington Academy of Sciences, Humboldt Award, listing in Outstanding Educators of America, American Men and Women in Science, Who's Who in America

Bibliography (selection)

  • " The Radio Galaxy, " Sci. Am., 201, 45, 1959.
  • "The mapping of the Galaxy, in which Tomorrow Yesterday, CBS, George Braziller, New York, 1964.
  • " Distribution of Interstellar Hydrogen, " (with FJ Kerr), ch. 8, in Stars and Stellar Systems, vol. 5, p.166, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1965
  • "Radio Emission of the Galaxy, " Comm. 40 report, IAU Trans XII A, Acad. Press, 1965.
  • "Galactic radio emission in the 21- cm line and the Continuum, " in Galactic Astronomy, ed HY Chiu and A. Muriel, p. 147-190, Gordon and Breach, 1971.
Hendrik C. van de Hulst Mike Davis (scholar) University System of Maryland Edward L. G. Bowell (5105) Westerhout
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