The Life And Works Of J C Kapteyn

Among the most influential, world-renowned scientists during the early decades of the twentieth century was the Dutch astronomer Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922). Kapteyn's influence resulted from and contributed to the golden age of Dutch science. In the words of the brilliant English astrophysicist, Arthur S. Eddington: `Holland has given many scientific leaders to the world: it is doubtful whether any other nation in proportion to its size can show so fine a record. J.C. Kapteyn was among the most distinguished of its sons -- a truly great astronomer'. The present text is an English translation of Kapteyn's 1928 (Dutch) biography by his daughter Henrietta Hertzsprung-Kapteyn. While the original biography suffers from -- but in many ways is also enriched by -- the emotional excesses of a loving daughter writing of her famous father, this new translation provides an annotated assessment of Kapteyn as family man, scientist and world leader. This new volume also opens up to a much wider reading public many of the enormously rich contributions, not only of Kapteyn the man but also of the Dutch, to the emergence of astronomy as a major intellectual force in the world. Perhaps equally important, the translated biography reproduces many biographical and technical details from Kapteyn's correspondence with numerous other scientists and scholars. Access to the Kapteyn biography becomes an archival treasure for future studies dealing with Kapteyn himself, as well as with the history of both modern and Dutch astronomy and with the rise of international astronomy.

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922) of the University of Groningen was one of the foremost astronomers of his time, resulting in a leading role internationally of Dutch astronomy throughout the twentieth century. This volume, which is the proceedings of a special `legacy' symposium at the celebration of the 385th anniversary of the University of Groningen, addresses Kapteyn's influence on the development of modern astronomy through studies of his pioneering work on statistical astronomy and the Structure of the Sidereal System, and his leadership in establishing international collaborations, in particular the Plan of Selected Areas. In addition to historical studies related to Kapteyn's person, work, international collaborations and organisational efforts, the volume discusses the influence of Kapteyn on the internationalisation of astronomy and on contemporary astronomy. It also provides an inventory of Kapteyn's correspondence.

This non-technical biography of Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922) presents to the general reader the scientific life of the astronomer who pioneered the studies of the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy. In telling Kapteyn’s story the author weaves in astronomy basics and uses modern astronomical images to show the developments of astronomical research from Kapteyn’s times to the present. In particular the study of the distribution of stars in space has now culminated with spectacular new insights coming from the astrometric satellite GAIA, which is receiving much public attention today. The biography shows how Kapteyn’s ideas influenced prominent astronomers worldwide. He is prominent as designer of the Kapteyn Universe, the alternative to the large system found by Harlow Shapley. He is the discoverer of Kapteyn’s Star, still the second fastest moving star in the sky, which is now one of the nearest stars with a planet in the habitable zone. This fascinating hybrid of astronomy history and popular astronomy tells the story of the astronomy professor without an observatory who founded the first astronomical laboratory specializing in measuring photographic plates exposed elsewhere. Kapteyn took astronomy out of cataloguing stars to measuring distances and velocities in order to study their spatial distribution, systematic motions (Kapteyn’s Star Streams) and the equilibrium between their gravity and motions. His legacy includes, in addition to the first application of Galactic structure and dynamics, Jan Hendrik Oort, the famous astronomer from Leiden, who as a student was so impressed by Kapteyn’s lectures that he decided to become an astronomer.

In the 400 years of its modern history the Netherlands has produced a distinguished array of eminent mathematicians, scientists and medical researchers including many Nobel-prize winners and other internationally recognised figures, from Stevin, Snel, and Huygens in the 17th century to Lorentz, Kammerlingh Onnes, Buys Ballot, De Vries, de Sitter, and Oort in the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet it has often been noted that the history of science in the Netherlands is underepresented in the international literature. The handbook A History of Science in The Netherlands aims to correct this situation by providing a chronological and thematic survey of the field from the 16th century to the present, essays on selected aspects of science in the Netherlands, and reference biographies of about 65 important Dutch scientists. Written by more than 10 experts from Europe and North America, the handbook is the standard English-language reference work for the field.

Jacobus C. Kapteyn (1851-1922) was a Dutch astronomer who contributed heavily to major catalogs of star positions, such as the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung and the Harvard-Groningen Durchmusterung, and arranged extensive international collaboration through his Plan of Selected Areas. He contributed to the establishment of statistical astronomy and structure and dynamics of the Sidereal System. All aspects of Kapteyn’s life are discussed, from his birth in Barneveld, the Netherlands, to his death in Amsterdam, and his entire resume of scientific achievements in between. Kapteyn had some conflicts with others in his field, especially after the world became divided on how to handle scientific contributions from Germany post-World War I. Both Kapteyn's struggles and achievements are written against the backdrop of both the historical context of the world at that time as well as the scientific one.

Paul describes the rise of statistical cosmology and how it has set the stage for many of the most significant developments of twentieth-century astronomy.

This Encyclopedia traces the history of the oldest science from the ancient world to the space age in over 300 entries by leading experts.

Today, we accept that we live on a planet circling the sun, that our sun is just one of billions of stars in the galaxy we call the Milky Way, and that our galaxy is but one of billions born out of the big bang. Yet as recently as the early twentieth century, the general public and even astronomers had vague and confused notions about what lay beyo