Paul W. Merrill
Paul Willard Merrill ( born August 15, 1887 † July 19, 1961 ) was an American astronomer.
Merrill earned his doctoral degree at the University of California in 1913. Most of his professional life was spent at Mount Wilson Observatory. 1952 ended this activity.
His specialty was spectroscopy. He looked specifically at long-period variable stars and the interstellar medium. Shortly before the end of his career, he managed to discover technetium in the variable star R Andromedae and other red variables. Since technetium due to the isotope has no permanent existence, it had recently been discovered in each of the stars, where it is found to have been produced. He was able to prove the S- process nucleosynthesis.
Honors
Awards
- Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1945 )
- Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1946 )
- Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society ( 1955)
Named after him
- Merrill Crater on the Moon