Ira Sprague Bowen

In 1919, Bowen joined the Oberlin College successfully and went to the University of Chicago. He studied with Albert Abraham Michelson. In 1926 he received his PhD.

In 1927, Bowen discovered that the hypothetical element nebulium not exist. Nebulium had been proposed to explain unidentified strong green spectral lines in gaseous nebulae. Bowen studied the ultraviolet spectra of ionized atoms and could explain the gained knowledge about their energy levels, the unidentified green spectral lines by forbidden lines of oxygen and nitrogen. These occur mainly in interstellar gas and molecular clouds.

Bowen was from 1948 to 1964 director of the Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar Observatory ( see Hale Observatories ).

A lunar crater is named after Bowen, as is the asteroid 3363 Bowen and the Bowen ratio defined by him meteorology.

Awards

Obituary

  • QJRAS 15 (1974) 193
December 21 1898 Seneca Falls (hamlet), New York 1973 Chemical element Lunar craters Henry Draper Medal Henry Norris Russell Lectureship Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Astrophysics Data System
416820
de