Editing Lyman Spitzer

{{Short description|American astronomer (1914–1997)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| birth_name        = Lyman Spitzer Jr.
| image             = 1946- Lyman Spitzer (4526166350).jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1914|6|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Toledo, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1997|3|31|1914|6|26}}<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |last1=Saxon |first1=Wolfgang |title=Lyman Spitzer Jr. Dies at 82; Inspired Hubble Telescope |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/02/nyregion/lyman-spitzer-jr-dies-at-82-inspired-hubble-telescope.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=26 September 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2 April 1997}}</ref>
| death_place       = [[Princeton, New Jersey]], U.S.
| resting_place     = [[Princeton Cemetery]]
| field             = [[Theoretical physics]]
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = [[Princeton University]] (Ph.D.)<br />[[Yale University]] (B.A.)<br />[[Phillips Academy]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Henry Norris Russell]]
| doctoral_students = [[John Richard Gott]]<br />[[Bruce Elmegreen]]<br />[[George B. Field]]<br />[[John Beverley Oke|J. Beverley Oke]]<br />[[Trinh Xuan Thuan]]<br />[[J. Michael Shull]]
| known_for         = Research in [[star formation]] and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma physics]]<br /> Promotion of [[space telescope]]s
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = [[Henry Draper Medal]] (1974)<br />[[James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics]] (1975) <br />[[National Medal of Science]] (1979)<br />[[Crafoord Prize]] (1985)
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = 
| spouse            = [[Doreen Canaday Spitzer|Doreen Canaday]] (m. 1940)
}}

'''Lyman Spitzer Jr.''' (June 26, 1914&nbsp;– March 31, 1997)<ref name="FRS Biographical Memoir">{{Cite journal | last1 = Ostriker | first1 = J. P. | author-link = Jeremiah P. Ostriker| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2007.0020 | title = Lyman Spitzer. 26 June 1914 -- 31 March 1997: Elected ForMemRS 1990 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 53 | pages = 339–348| year = 2007| doi-access =  | s2cid = 70875907 }}{{rp|339}}</ref> was an American [[theoretical physics|theoretical physicist]], astronomer and mountaineer. As a scientist, he carried out research into [[star formation]] and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma physics]] and in 1946 conceived the idea of [[space telescope|telescopes operating in outer space]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hubble Essentials: About Lyman Spitzer Jr.|publisher=Hubble Site|url=http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/lyman_spitzer.php}}</ref> Spitzer invented the [[stellarator]] plasma device<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Stellarator Concept|author=Lyman Spitzer Jr.|journal=The Physics of Fluids|volume=1|issue=4|page=253|year=1958|doi=10.1063/1.1705883|bibcode = 1958PhFl....1..253S |s2cid=11748652}}</ref> and is the namesake of [[NASA]]'s [[Spitzer Space Telescope]]. As a mountaineer, he made the first ascent of [[Mount Thor]], with Donald C. Morton.<ref name=mactutor>{{MacTutor|id=Spitzer}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Spitzer was born to a [[Presbyterian]] family in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Lyman Spitzer Sr. and Blanche Carey (née Brumback). Through his paternal grandmother, he was related to inventor [[Eli Whitney]].<ref>[http://www.wargs.com/political/richardson.html Ancestry of Gov. Bill Richardson]</ref> Spitzer graduated from [[Scott High School (Toledo, Ohio)|Scott High School]].  He then attended [[Phillips Academy]] from 1929 to 1931 and went on to [[Yale College]], where he graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] in 1935 and was a member of [[Skull and Bones]].  During a year of study at [[St John's College, Cambridge]], he was influenced by [[Arthur Eddington]] and the young [[Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]].  Returning to the U.S., Spitzer received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in physics from [[Princeton University]] in 1938 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "The spectra of late [[supergiant star]]s", under the direction of [[Henry Norris Russell]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Current Biography Yearbook | publisher=H.W. Wilson | date=1960 | pages=395–96}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Professor of Astronomy Lyman Spitzer Jr. Dies|newspaper=Communications and Publications, Stanhope Hall, Princeton U.|date=April 1, 1997|url=https://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/97/q2/0401sptz.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Spitzer|first=Lyman|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/2699308|title=The spectra of late supergiant stars|date=1938|language=en}}</ref>

==Mountaineering==
In 1965, Spitzer and Donald Morton became the first to climb [[Mount Thor]] {{Convert|1675|m|abbr=on}}, located in [[Auyuittuq National Park]], on [[Baffin Island, Nunavut]], Canada.<ref name="FRS Biographical Memoir"/>{{rp|347}} As a member of the [[American Alpine Club]], Spitzer established the "Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Climbing Award" (Now called the "Cutting Edge Grant") which gives $12,000 to several mountain climbing expeditions annually.<ref>[https://americanalpineclub.org/press-releases-1/2017/1/12/aac-announces-2017-cutting-edge-grant-award-recipients Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Climbing Award]</ref>
[[File:Lyman_Spitzer_on_Climbing_Trip.png|thumb|right|This image was made in July, 1967 on the Summit Ridge of Mt. Bertram Petrie in British Columbia, Canada by [[Charles Robert O'Dell]] during its first ascent.]]
==Science==
{{refimprove section|date = April 2023}}
Spitzer's brief time as a faculty member at [[Yale University|Yale]] was interrupted by his wartime work on the development of [[sonar]].  In 1947, at the age of 33, he succeeded Russell as director of Princeton University Observatory, an institution that, virtually jointly with his contemporary and friend [[Martin Schwarzschild]], he continued to head until 1979.<ref>Bahcall, J. N, & Ostriker, J. P. (1997). ''Physics Today, 50''(10), 123-124. </ref>

Spitzer's research centered on the [[interstellar medium]], to which he brought a deep understanding of [[astrophysical plasma|plasma]] physics.  In the 1930s and 1940s, he was among the first to recognize [[star formation]] as an ongoing contemporary process.  His monographs, "Diffuse Matter in Space" (1968) and "Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium" (1978) consolidated decades of work, and themselves became the standard texts for some decades more.

Spitzer was the founding director of [[Project Matterhorn]], Princeton University's pioneering program in controlled thermonuclear research, renamed in 1961 as [[Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory]].  He was an early proponent of space optical astronomy in general, and in particular of the project that became [[Hubble Space Telescope]].

In 1981, Spitzer became a founding member of the [[World Cultural Council]].<ref>{{cite web | title = About Us | publisher = [[World Cultural Council]] | url = http://www.consejoculturalmundial.org/about-us/ | access-date = November 8, 2016}}</ref>

==Death==
{{unreferenced section|date = April 2023}}
Spitzer died suddenly on March 31, 1997, after completing a regular day of work at [[Princeton University]].<ref name="FRS Biographical Memoir"/> He was buried at [[Princeton Cemetery]] and was survived by wife [[Doreen Canaday Spitzer]] (1914-2010), four children, and ten grandchildren. Among Spitzer's four children is neurobiologist [[Nicholas Spitzer|Nicholas C. Spitzer]], who is currently professor and vice chair in neurobiology at [[University of California, San Diego|UC San Diego]].

==Honors==
'''Awards'''
* [[Fellow of the American Physical Society]] (1941) <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=S&year=&unit_id=&institution=|title=APS Fellow archive| publisher=APS|access-date= 12 June 2020}}</ref>
* Member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] (1952)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lyman Spitzer, cons_suffix |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/50196.html |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>
* Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1953)<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter S|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf|publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]|access-date=15 April 2011}}</ref>
* [[Henry Norris Russell Lectureship]] (1953)<ref name=AAS>{{cite web|title=Grants, Prizes and Awards|url=http://aas.org/grants/awards.php#russell|publisher=[[American Astronomical Society]]|access-date=24 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222143439/http://www.aas.org/grants/awards.php <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=22 December 2010}}</ref>
* Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1959)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Lyman+Spitzer&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
* [[Bruce Medal]] (1973)<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal|url=http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html|publisher=[[Astronomical Society of the Pacific]]|access-date=24 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721092933/http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html|archive-date=21 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Henry Draper Medal]] of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (1974)
* [[James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics]] (1975)
* [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] (1978)<ref>{{cite web|title=Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society |url=http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268 |publisher=[[Royal Astronomical Society]] |access-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525064844/http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268 |archive-date=25 May 2011 }}</ref>
* [[National Medal of Science]] (1979)
* [[Franklin Medal]] (1980)
* [[Prix Jules Janssen]] of the [[Société astronomique de France]] (French Astronomical Society) (1980)
* [[Crafoord Prize]] (1985)<ref name="Crafoord Prize 1985">{{cite web | title=Lyman Spitzer Jr | website=Crafoord Prize | date=2022-08-22 | url=https://www.crafoordprize.se/prize-laureate/lyman-spitzer-jr/ | access-date=2024-02-24}}</ref>

'''Named after him'''
* [[Asteroid]] [[2160 Spitzer]]
* [[Spitzer Space Telescope]]
* Lyman Spitzer Library in [[Davenport College]], Yale University
*Lyman Spitzer Building at the [[Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory]] in Princeton, NJ
* Lyman Spitzer Planetarium at the [[Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium]] in [[St. Johnsbury, VT]]
* Answer to the final question on NTN Buzztime's Showdown on September 16, 2008.
* Spitzer Building in Toledo, Ohio.
* Landau-Spitzer Award (American Physical Society) <ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/landau-spitzer.cfm |title = Landau-Spitzer Award}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/postsecondary/features/F_Lyman_Spitzer.html NASA biography]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060901164945/http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/spitzer.html Papers by Lyman Spitzer at the Princeton University Library]
*[https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4901-1 Oral history interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 8 April 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4900 Oral History interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 15 March 1978, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4901-2 Oral history interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 10 May 1978, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/28612 Oral History interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 27 November 1991, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives]
* [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12562&page=354 Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences]

{{Founding members of the World Cultural Council}}
{{FRS 1990}}
{{James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics recipients}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitzer, Lyman}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:American astronomers]]
[[Category:Phillips Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:Burials at Princeton Cemetery]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Yale College alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University faculty]]
[[Category:Founding members of the World Cultural Council]]
[[Category:American plasma physicists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory people]]
[[Category:Spitzer Space Telescope]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of Skull and Bones]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]