Frank John Kerr

Frank John Kerr ( born January 8, 1918 in St Albans, England; † 15 September 2000 in Silver Spring, Maryland) was an Australian astronomer who helped to better understand the structure of the Milky Way.

Kerr was born to Australian parents in St. Albans in England. 1940 Kerr was a member of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ( CSIRO ) in Sydney Australia.

Kerr studied physics at the University of Melbourne and received his MA in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1951.

In Australia in 1951 Kerr used a purpose-built 36 -foot telescope and mapped the Magellanic Clouds. He discovered neutral hydrogen and a halo around both clouds. From 1954 to 1955 Kerr was a member of a group which determined the rotation of the Magellanic Clouds and their masses. Over the years he has collaborated with several well-known astronomers, among them Colin Stanley Gum and Gart Westerhout.

From 1966 to 1968 he was a visiting professor first, then a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park until his retirement in 1987.