Albert Edward Whitford (October 22, 1905 – March 28, 2002) was an American astronomer. October 22 is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 70 days remaining. ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in Leap years). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An astronomer or astrophysicist is a scientist whose area of research is astronomy or astrophysics. ...
Whitford was born in Milton, Wisconsin and attended Milton College. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin. He served as the director of Washburn Observatory from 1948 to 1958. From 1958 to 1968 he was the director of Lick Observatory. Later he served on the faculties of both the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Wisconsin. There is also the Town of Milton in Buffalo County. ... For the University of Wisconsin system, see University of Wisconsin System. ... The Washburn Observatory is located at the 1401 Observatory Drive on the University of Wisconsin at Madison. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. ... The University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC or UC Santa Cruz) is a coeducational public university located in Santa Cruz, California, USA. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California. ...
Whitford was a pioneer in the field of photoelectric photometry, greatly improving sensitivity. The Whitford reddening curve, quantifying the interstellar absorption of light, was important in the mapping of the distribution of stars in the Milky Way. He also studied the stars in galactic nuclear bulges. Photometry is a technique of astronomy concerned with measuring the flux, or intensity of an astronomical objects electromagnetic radiation. ... Absorption, in optics, is the process by which the energy of a photon is taken up by another entity, for example, by an atom whose valence electrons make a transition between two electronic energy levels. ... The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Galaxia Kuklos) is the galaxy in which the Earth is found. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is any massive gaseous body in outer space. ... It has been proposed below that Bulge (astronomy) be renamed and moved to galactic bulge. ...
In 1986 Whitford received the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship and in 1996 he was awarded the Bruce Medal. 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Catherine Wolfe Bruce gold medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. ...
The asteroid 2301 Whitford is named in his honor. An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ...
Whitford, who stayed in Pasadena most of the time from 1933 to 1935, measured the nearest, brightest galaxies on his own at Mount Wilson, using its photometer mounted on a 10-inch refractor, which was only infrequently used by other observers and thus usually available to him.
Whitford and Arthur D. Code, who had replaced Johnson on the UW faculty in 1951, had built a one-channel scanning photoelectric spectrometer for use on the Mount Wilson telescopes, and with it Code obtained a scan of M 32, the nearby bright elliptical galaxy companion of M 31.
Whitford, however, knew it was his duty to lead them to the campus and he did so in his businesslike way, assigning duties in planning the move to each of the senior staff members.
SANTA CRUZ, CA--Albert E. Whitford, an acclaimed astronomer, former director of the University of California's Lick Observatory, and a professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, died on Thursday, March 28.
Whitford also studied the structures and dynamics of the spherical blobs of stars at the centers of galaxies, known as nuclear bulges.
Whitford served as president of the American Astronomical Society from 1967 to 1970, and he was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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