Martin SchwarzschildBorn 31 May 1912; died 10 Apr 1997 at age 84.German-American astronomer who worked on stellar structure and evolution, including pulsating stars and differential solar rotation, the helium flash and the ages of star clusters. He traced the post-main sequence evolutionary tracks on the Hertzprung-Russel diagram, indicating how stars become red giants. The computer techniques he used to make stellar models were taken up by subsequent astrophysicists. In 1957, he initiated the Stratoscope projects, using hot-air balloons to carry scientific and photographic instruments to unprescedented stratospheric heights. Using that stable platform he obtained, high-resolution observations of the turbulence in the photosphere of the sun, free from ground-based atmospheric effects. His is the son of German astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild. In 1936, Martin fled the Nazi regime and moved to America.« |
