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Kent Ford (astronomer)

William Kent Ford Jr. (April 8, 1931 – June 18, 2023) was an American astronomer involved with the theory of dark matter. He worked with scientist Vera Rubin, who used his advanced spectrometer in her studies of space and matter. This spectrometer allowed the pair to drastically change the way dark matter was viewed, by analyzing the various spectrums of light galaxies give off in different parts of their spirals. He received the 1985 James Craig Watson Medal for his work on image enhancement and galactic dynamics.[1] Ford died on June 18, 2023, at the age of 92.[2]

Work edit

Imaging tube development edit

Starting in 1955, when he was hired at the Carnegie Institute's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ford worked on improving the electrostatic photomultiplier tube and developing it as an instrument for scientific work, and went on to pioneer the application of photomultiplier tubes as a sensitive focal-plane detector for astronomical applications,[3] resulting in the "Carnegie Image Tube".[4] The first tests of the astronomical applications of his barrier film tubes were done on the 26-inch refractor at the Naval Observatory in Washington, and later at the 40-inch telescope at the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff.[5] By making it possible for astronomical observations to be captured in electronic form, and thus easily transferred to digital form for analysis by computer, the technology revolutionized the data collection method of observational astronomy, and the technology continued to be widely used for astronomical observations until the development of CCD imagers in the 1980s.

Observational astronomy edit

In an important paper co-authored with astronomer Vera Rubin in 1970,[6] and a follow-up paper in 1980,[7] Rubin and Ford established that the orbits of stars around the center of galaxies (the "galaxy rotation curve") does not decrease with distance from the galactic center, as expected from Kepler's rotation law, but remains constant (or "flat") with distance. They deduced from this that galaxies contain a large fraction of their mass in the form of some non-luminous component, and calculated that most galaxies must contain about six times as much dark as visible mass. The name now given to this discovery is dark matter.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Awards: James Craig Watson Medal 2011-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, United States National Academy of Sciences
  2. ^ "Obituary: William Kent Ford, Jr., 92". The Virginian Review. June 27, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  3. ^ M. A. Tuve, W. K. Ford, Jr., J. S. Hall, an W. A. Baum, "Results of Preliminary Tests of Cascaded Image Converters," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 70, No. 417, 1958, p. 592.
  4. ^ W. K. Ford, Jr., "Electronic Image Intensification", Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol 6, 1, Sept. 1968. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  5. ^ David DeVorkin and Shaun Hardy, Interview with W. Kent Ford, Jr., 25 October 2013, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  6. ^ V. C. Rubin and W. K. Ford, Jr., "Rotation of the Andromeda Nebula from a Spectroscopic Survey of Emission Regions", Astrophysical Journal, vol. 159, February 1970, p.379. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  7. ^ V. C. Rubin, W. K. Ford, Jr., & N. Thonnard, "Rotational properties of 21 SC galaxies with a large range of luminosities and radii, from NGC 4605 /R = 4kpc/ to UGC 2885 /R = 122 kpc/", Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 238, June 1, 1980, p. 471-487. Retrieved 29 March 2019.

References edit

External links edit

  • Interview with W. Kent Ford, Jr. (American Institute of Physics Oral History project)

kent, ford, astronomer, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, kent, ford, astronomer, news, newspapers, bo. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Kent Ford astronomer news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message William Kent Ford Jr April 8 1931 June 18 2023 was an American astronomer involved with the theory of dark matter He worked with scientist Vera Rubin who used his advanced spectrometer in her studies of space and matter This spectrometer allowed the pair to drastically change the way dark matter was viewed by analyzing the various spectrums of light galaxies give off in different parts of their spirals He received the 1985 James Craig Watson Medal for his work on image enhancement and galactic dynamics 1 Ford died on June 18 2023 at the age of 92 2 Contents 1 Work 1 1 Imaging tube development 1 2 Observational astronomy 2 See also 3 Notes 4 References 5 External linksWork editImaging tube development edit Starting in 1955 when he was hired at the Carnegie Institute s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Ford worked on improving the electrostatic photomultiplier tube and developing it as an instrument for scientific work and went on to pioneer the application of photomultiplier tubes as a sensitive focal plane detector for astronomical applications 3 resulting in the Carnegie Image Tube 4 The first tests of the astronomical applications of his barrier film tubes were done on the 26 inch refractor at the Naval Observatory in Washington and later at the 40 inch telescope at the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff 5 By making it possible for astronomical observations to be captured in electronic form and thus easily transferred to digital form for analysis by computer the technology revolutionized the data collection method of observational astronomy and the technology continued to be widely used for astronomical observations until the development of CCD imagers in the 1980s Observational astronomy edit In an important paper co authored with astronomer Vera Rubin in 1970 6 and a follow up paper in 1980 7 Rubin and Ford established that the orbits of stars around the center of galaxies the galaxy rotation curve does not decrease with distance from the galactic center as expected from Kepler s rotation law but remains constant or flat with distance They deduced from this that galaxies contain a large fraction of their mass in the form of some non luminous component and calculated that most galaxies must contain about six times as much dark as visible mass The name now given to this discovery is dark matter See also editRubin Ford effectNotes edit Awards James Craig Watson Medal Archived 2011 09 16 at the Wayback Machine United States National Academy of Sciences Obituary William Kent Ford Jr 92 The Virginian Review June 27 2023 Retrieved August 28 2023 M A Tuve W K Ford Jr J S Hall an W A Baum Results of Preliminary Tests of Cascaded Image Converters Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Vol 70 No 417 1958 p 592 W K Ford Jr Electronic Image Intensification Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics vol 6 1 Sept 1968 Retrieved 29 March 2019 David DeVorkin and Shaun Hardy Interview with W Kent Ford Jr 25 October 2013 Niels Bohr Library amp Archives American Institute of Physics College Park MD Retrieved 29 March 2019 V C Rubin and W K Ford Jr Rotation of the Andromeda Nebula from a Spectroscopic Survey of Emission Regions Astrophysical Journal vol 159 February 1970 p 379 Retrieved 29 March 2019 V C Rubin W K Ford Jr amp N Thonnard Rotational properties of 21 SC galaxies with a large range of luminosities and radii from NGC 4605 R 4kpc to UGC 2885 R 122 kpc Astrophysical Journal Part 1 vol 238 June 1 1980 p 471 487 Retrieved 29 March 2019 References editVera Rubin and Dark Matter at the American Museum of Natural HistoryExternal links editInterview with W Kent Ford Jr American Institute of Physics Oral History project Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kent Ford astronomer amp oldid 1218919582, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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