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Mount Wilson

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Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 416))

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Abstract

From 1908 onwards, Kapteyn was a part-time Research Associate at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California. Between 1908 and 1914 he spent a few months there every year. His first visit to Mount Wilson, in 1908, coincided with the completion of the 60-inch telescope, the largest in the world at the time. George Hale, the founder of the Observatory, adopted Kapteyn’s Plan of Selected Areas as the main observing program for his new telescope. During his stay in 1910, Kapteyn attended the famous meeting of the Solar Union at Mount Wilson, which linked solar and stellar spectroscopic research, and was a key-note speaker. World War I prevented Kapteyn from making more visits after 1914. In 1911 the Astronomical Laboratory moved into its permanent location.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Persiflage of Isaac Newton’s quote ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’. Another is the anonymous ‘If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants are standing on my shoulders’.

  2. 2.

    Article on the Mount Wilson Toll Road [1].

  3. 3.

    From Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas; Vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

  4. 4.

    ‘Oh mais quel triste emploi/ Quelle humiliante faiblesse/ Que de chiffrer toujours/ Que d’integrer sans cesse.’

  5. 5.

    ‘Quand on n’a pas ce qu’on aime, it faut aimer ce qu’on a’. This has been attributed to Roger de Rabertin , Comte de Bussy (1618–1693).

Chapter 13. Mount Wilson

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  2. See hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/1868/rec/26.

  3. Respectively: The MIT Press (1972), ISBN-10 0262230496 and American Institute of Physics (1994), ISBN-10 1563962497.

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  4. Respectively W.S. Adams, Astrophysical Journal, 87, 369–388 (1938) and H.D. Babcock, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 50, 156–165 (1938). [1938ApJ....87.369A and 1938PASP...50.156B]

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  5. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 57, 478–482 (1922).

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  6. See www.dudleyobservatory.org/archives/archives_astrojrnl.htm.

  7. Astronomical Journal, 25, 169–175 (1907). [1907AJ.....25.169C]

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  8. See hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/500/rec/87.

  9. See hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/1143/rec/12.

  10. From www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/images/w100.jpg, reproduced with permission.

  11. Carnegie Institution of Washington Year Book, vol. 6 (1907), page 136–137.

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  15. See hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/431/rec/91.

  16. www.flora-and-sam.com/pages/ImmigrationShips.htm#rotterdam.

  17. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Express

  18. Taken from wikimapia.org/9752676/Kapteyn-Cottage.

  19. See hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/1124/rec/20.

  20. The Fourth Conference of the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research, H.C. Wilson, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 22, 169–179 (1910); The Mount Wilson Conference of the Solar Union, C.A. Chant, C. A. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 4, 356–372 (1910). [1910PASP...22.169W and 1910JRASC...4.356C]

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  21. See [1911TIUCS...3.1.] for opening pages; use ADS to find further parts.

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  22. According to the Photographic Archive of the University of Chicago Library, see photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/db.xqy?one=apf6--04419-017.xml.

  23. See hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/1140/rec/6,identificationofMcBridsphotoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/db.xqy?one=apf6-04419-017.xml.

  24. See hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/855/rec/3.

  25. Picture and permission provided by Susanne Elisabeth Nørskov, AU Library, Fysik & Steno, Institut for Fysik og Astronomi, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark.

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  26. See www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists.

  27. Astronomische Nachrichten, 292, 142 (1970). [1970AN....292.142S]

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Pieter C. van der Kruit (Jacobus C. Kapteyn Professor of Astronomy)

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  1. Pieter C. van der Kruit
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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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van der Kruit, P.C. (2015). Mount Wilson. In: Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 416. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10876-6_13

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