Edwin E. Salpeter

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox scientist Edwin Ernest Salpeter (3 December 1924 – 26 November 2008,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>) was an Austrian–Australian–American astrophysicist.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Life

Born in Vienna to a Jewish family, Salpeter emigrated from Austria to Australia while in his teens to escape the Nazis. He attended Sydney Boys High School (1939–40)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Sydney University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in 1944 and his master's degree in 1945. In the same year he was awarded an overseas scholarship and attended the University of Birmingham, England, where he earned his doctorate in 1948 under the supervision of Sir Rudolf Peierls. He spent the remainder of his career at Cornell University, where he was the James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of the Physical Sciences. Salpeter died of leukemia at his home in Ithaca, New York on 26 November 2008.<ref name="NAS memoir Salpeter">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp

Scientific contributions

In 1951 Salpeter suggested that stars could burn helium-4 into carbon-12 with the Triple-alpha process not directly, but through an intermediate metastable state of beryllium-8, which helped to explain the carbon production in stars. He later derived the initial mass function for the formation rates of stars of different mass in the Galaxy.<ref name="NAS memoir Salpeter"/>Template:Rp

Salpeter wrote with Hans Bethe two articles in 1951 which introduced the equation bearing their names, the Bethe–Salpeter equation which describes the interactions between a pair of fundamental particles under a quantum field theory.<ref name="NAS memoir Salpeter"/>Template:Rp

In 1955 he found the Salpeter function or the initial mass function (IMF).<ref>Salpeter, Edwin (1955). "The luminosity function and stellar evolution". Astrophysical Journal. 121: 161. Bibcode:1955ApJ...121..161S. doi:10.1086/145971.</ref> It shows that the number of stars in each mass range decreases rapidly with increasing mass.

In 1964 Salpeter and independently Yakov B. Zel'dovich were the first<ref>Suzy Collin, Quasars and Galactic Nuclei, a Half-Century Agitated Story, 2006, ALBERT EINSTEIN CENTURY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 861, pp. 587-595 (2006).</ref> to suggest that accretion discs around massive black holes are responsible for the huge amounts of energy radiated by quasars (which are the brightest active galactic nuclei). This is currently the most accepted explanation for the physical origin of active galactic nuclei and the associated extragalactic relativistic jets.<ref>Peterson, B. M. An Introduction to Active Galactic Nuclei. 1.ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997</ref>

In early 1970s, Salpeter discovered that molecular hydrogen and many other molecular species are formed in the interstellar medium not as much in the gas phase but primarily on the surfaces of dust particles.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Family

In 1950 he married Miriam (Mika) Mark (1929–2000), a neurobiologist born in Riga, Latvia; she was chairwoman of the department of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell from 1982 to 1988.<ref>Wolfgang Saxon, "Miriam M. Salpeter, 71, Expert On Neuromuscular Disorders", New York Times, 28 October 2000.</ref> The Society for Neuroscience created the Mika Salpeter award in her memory; it "recognizes an individual with outstanding career achievements in neuroscience who has also significantly promoted the professional advancement of women in neuroscience."<ref>Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award. Template:Webarchive</ref> The Salpeters had two daughters, Judy Salpeter and Dr. Shelley Salpeter. After Miriam's death, Edwin married Antonia Shouse.<ref>"Edwin E. Salpeter, Leader in Astrophysics Study, Dies at 83", The Associated Press, 28 November 2008.</ref>

Honors

• Carnegie Institution for Science Award for Research in Astrophysics (1959)
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1967)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1967)<ref name="NAS memoir Salpeter"/>
• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1973)
• Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1974)
• J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize (1974)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Member of the American Philosophical Society (1977)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Karl Schwarzschild Medal (1985)
• Bruce Medal (1987)
• Dirac Medal of the University of South Wales (1996)
• Crafoord Prize (with Fred Hoyle) (1997)<ref name="Crafoord Prize 1997">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Hans Bethe Prize (1999)

External links

• Bruce Medal page
• bio page
• Oral History interview transcript with Edwin Ernest Salpeter on 30 March 1978, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - interview conducted by Spencer Weart at Newman Laboratory, Cornell University
• Interviewed by Mark Turin on 12 November 2008 (video)
• Yervant Terzian, "Edwin E. Salpeter," Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2009)