The Solar Lithium Story

Abstract

When I began my studies with Edith, I did not only start my research work that allowed me to realize my PhD with her as my thesis advisor, but also, I began the research that I am doing today. That was the end of the sixties and I already admired her work on the famous Goldberg-Müller-Aller paper concerning the solar abundances which appeared in 1960. This was one of the most quoted papers in astrophysics. As she told me at that time, she contributed most to that paper. Goldberg found the money and Aller calculated the probability f-values. Money at that time (end of the fifties) was largely used for the calculations. We can smile today, but at that time calculations with a main frame computer were paid with real dollars. She had to revise the punched cards “ad nauseam” in order to avoid errors. She did the hard work because she measured the spectra and made their interpretation. Then, when the work was done, the main bulk of the solar abundance knowledge was offered to the scientific community.