Bart Bok
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| Bart Bok | |
 Bart Bok
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| Born | April 28, 1906 Hoorn |
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| Died | August 5, 1983 Tucson |
| Nationality | Dutch-American |
| Fields | astronomy |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Alma mater | Leiden Groningen |
Bart Jan Bok (Hoorn, April 28, 1906 – Tucson, August 5, 1983) was a Dutch-American astronomer.
He was born in the Netherlands, and educated at the Leiden and Groningen Universities. In 1929 he married fellow astronomer Dr. Priscilla Fairfield Bok, and for the remainder of their lives the two collaborated closely on their astronomical work.
From 1929 until 1957 he worked at Harvard University. He then worked as director of Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia for nine years, before returning to the United States as director of Steward Observatory. He became a US citizen in 1938.
In 1975 Bok coauthored the statement Objections to Astrology (The Humanist, 1975)[1], which was endorsed by 186 professional astronomers, astrophysicists, and other scientists, including nineteen winners of the Nobel Prize. The statement was published in The Humanist. This led to the formation of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, of which he was a founding Fellow.
Bart Bok was an exceedingly popular personality in the field of astronomy, noted for his affability and humor. The Asteroid 1983 Bok was named for him while he was still living. In the ceremony announcing the award, he thanked the IAU for giving him "a little plot of land that [I] can retire to and live on." He participated in or led several groups to view solar eclipses, the last near Irkutsk in Siberia in the summer of 1980. On this trip to the USSR he led the group on a side trip to Byurakan Observatory, meeting with the director, Victor Ambartsumian.
Bok died of a heart attack at his home in Tucson, Arizona.
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[edit] Honors
Awards
- Bruce Medal (1977)
- Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1982)
- Klumpke-Roberts Award (1982)
Named after him
- Bok crater on the Moon (with his wife)
- Asteroid 1983 Bok (with his wife)
- Bok globules
- Bok Telescope
- Bart J Bok Postdoctoral Fellowship, given out by the Astronomy Department of the University of Arizona and Steward Observatory.
[edit] Bibliography
- Bart Jan Bok and Priscilla Fairfield Bok, The Milky Way, 5th ed., Harvard University Press, 1981, ISBN 0-674-57503-2.
- David H. Levy, The Man Who Sold the Milky Way: A Biography of Bart Bok, University of Arizona Press, 1993, ISBN 0816511495 (hardcover); 1995, ISBN 0816515247 (paperback).
- Bok, B J (1973), "Galactic spiral structure.", Am. Sci. 61 (1): 8, PMID:17712971, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17712971
- Bok (1966), "Graduate Training in Astronomy.", Science 154 (3749): 590-592, 1966 Nov 4, doi:, PMID:17778795, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17778795
- Bok (1955), Science in International Cooperation., 121 (published 1955 Jun 17), pp. 843-847, doi:, PMID:17798483, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17798483
- Bok (1953), The United Nations Expanded Program for Technical Assistance., 117 (published 1953 Jan 23), pp. 67-70, doi:, PMID:17836270, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17836270
- Bok (1944), FREEDOM IN SCIENCE., 100 (published 1944 Sep 8), pp. 217-218, doi:, PMID:17840405, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17840405
- Bok (1949), "Science and the Maintenance of Peace.", Science 109 (2824): 131-137, 1949 Feb 11, doi:, PMID:17759166, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17759166
- Bok; Morgan; Stokley (1941), THE DISTRIBUTION OF AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL LITERATURE ABROAD., 93 (published 1941 Jun 13), pp. 568-569, doi:, PMID:17809700, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17809700
- Bok, B J; Lindsay, E M (1938), "Note on the Stellar Distribution in the Vicinity of a Southern Galactic Window.", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 24 (1): 4-9, 1938 Jan, PMID:16588185, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16588185
