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Bidelman, William “Billy” Pendry

Born Los Angeles, California, USA, 25 September 1918

Died Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA, 3 May 2011

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  • First Online:
Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers

  • 13 Accesses

Abstract

William (“Billy”) Pendry Bidelman was one of the last masters of photographic stellar spectral classification and the identification of peculiar stars. His discoveries included barium stars, hydrogen-deficient stars, high-galactic-latitude supergiants, stars with anomalous carbon content, and exotic chemical abundances in peculiar A and B stars. Bidelman was legendary for his encyclopedic knowledge of the stellar literature. Some of the bizarre stellar phenomena he discovered remain unexplained to the present day.

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References

  • Bidelman, W.P. 1943. A spectroscopic study of the region of the double cluster in Perseus. Astrophysical Journal 98: 61–81.

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  • ———. 1951. Spectral classification of stars listed in Miss Payne’s catalogue of c stars. Astrophysical Journal 113: 304–308.

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  • ———. 1952. HD 160641, a hydrogen-deficient O-type star. Astrophysical Journal 116: 227–230.

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  • ———. 1953. The spectra of certain stars whose atmospheres may be deficient in hydrogen. Astrophysical Journal 117: 25–28.

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  • ———. 1960a. The unusual spectrum of 3 Centauri. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 72: 24–28.

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  • ———. 1960b. The spectrum of κ Cancri. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 72: 471–474.

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  • ———. 1962. Line identifications in peculiar stars. Astronomical Journal 67: 111. (Abstract).

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  • ———. 1983. Objective prism discoveries in the northern sky. I. Astronomical Journal 88: 1182–1186.

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  • ———. 1991. The bimillenary of Christ’s birth: The astronomical evidence. The Planetarian 20 (3): 12–13.

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  • Bidelman, W.P., and P.C. Keenan. 1951. The Ba II stars. Astrophysical Journal 114: 473–476.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Howard E. Bond

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  1. Howard E. Bond
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Correspondence to Howard E. Bond .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, USA

    Philip David Nicholson

  2. New Canton, VA, USA

    Jennifer Lynn Bartlett

Section Editor information

  1. University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

    Jordan D. Marché II

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Bond, H.E. (2023). Bidelman, William “Billy” Pendry. In: Nicholson, P.D., Bartlett, J.L. (eds) Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0738-1_100783-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0738-1_100783-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-0738-1

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