Robert Kraft (astronomer)

Robert Paul force ( born June 16, 1927 in Seattle ) is an American astronomer.

Life

Robert Paul force was born in Seattle and attended the University of Washington. In 1955 he received his doctorate in astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley with George Herbig. From 1967 on he was a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and directed a short time later, the Lick Observatory for five years as "acting director". From 1981 to 1991 he was director of the Lick Observatory.

In the late 1990s he prevented with Donald Osterbrock, also the Lick Observatory, and the German astronomer Werner Pfau and Theodor Schmidt- Kaler, the leveling of the located in Bad Salzuflen tomb of Walter Baade, one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century.

Force was 1974-1976 president of the American Astronomical Society from 1997 to 2000, President of the International Astronomical Union.

Work

Kraft's main area of ​​work are stars and their abundances and the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. He investigated the rotation of stars and the properties of variable stars as the Cepheids.

Awards and honors

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