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Arne Slettebak

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Arne Slettebak
Born(1925-08-08)August 8, 1925
Freistadt Danzig
(now Gdansk, Poland)
DiedMay 20, 1999(1999-05-20) (aged 73)
Worthington, Ohio, United States
Citizenship
  • United States (1932–1999)
Alma materUniversity of Chicago (BS, PhD)
Spouse
Constance Pixler
​
​
(m. 1949; died 2006)​
Children2
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
Institutions
ThesisOn the Axial Rotation of the Brighter O and B Stars (1949)
Doctoral advisorWilliam Wilson Morgan

Arne Edwin Slettebak (August 8, 1925 – May 20, 1999) was a naturalized American astronomer who served as chair of the astronomy department at the Ohio State University from 1962 to 1987 and director of the Perkins Observatory from 1959 to 1978.

Slettebak was born in the Free City of Danzig before emigrating to the United States at a young age. He obtained a degree in physics in 1945 and a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1949, the latter under the supervision of William Wilson Morgan.

Slettebak joined the Ohio State University shortly after and was instrumental in re-establishing a separate astronomy department; he retired in 1994. His principal research interests were in stellar rotation and Be stars, and he published over 90 papers, abstracts and articles throughout his career. The main-belt asteroid 9001 Slettebak, discovered in 1981, and the Ohio State University's planetarium were named in his honour.

Early life and education

Arne Edwin[1] Slettebak was born in the Free City of Danzig (in modern day Gdansk, Poland) on August 8, 1925 to Norwegian parents. His family emigrated to the United States in 1927, and he gained citizenship in 1932.[2] He studied at the University of Chicago, graduating with a BS degree in physics in 1945 and obtaining a PhD in astronomy in 1949.[2] His doctoral dissertation, which he completed under the guidance of William Wilson Morgan, was concerned with the rotational velocities of O-type and B-type stars.[3] As a graduate student, he worked as a research assistant at the Yerkes Observatory conducting astronomical spectroscopy investigations.[4] He also contributed to parts of what became the Morgan-Keenan system together with Morgan's other doctoral students Nancy Grace Roman and William P. Bidelman.[5]

Career

A photo of the building housing the McMillin observatory taken in 1971.
Site of the McMillin Observatory pictured in 1971
A photo of the main facade of the Perkins Observatory with two trees in front of it.
Main facade of the Perkins Observatory

After receiving his PhD, Slettebak joined the Ohio State University as an instructor the same year.[2] He became assistant professor in 1950 and held a Fulbright fellowship at the Hamburg Observatory for the 1955–56 academic year, where he conducted research on the structures of galaxies.[4]

He was promoted to associate professor in 1958 and then full professor in 1959 when he assumed the role of director of the Perkins Observatory from Geoffrey Keller;[6][7] he would hold this position until 1978.[2][8] Also in 1959, he took over directorship of the McMillin Observatory from J. Allen Hynek.[6][9]

Slettebak was a major force in the re-establishment of a separate astronomy department, which was approved in November 1962.[10] He became chair of the newly-independent entity and remained in this position until 1987.[2] From 1964 to 1968, he supervised the department's move from the McMillin Observatory, whose building had been deemed too small and unsafe, and Orton Hall to its current location at the Smith Physics Laboratory.[a][8][9]

He also helped forge an agreement between the Ohio State University, Ohio Wesleyan University and Lowell Observatory to move the Perkins Observatory's 69-inch reflecting telescope to Lowell in Flagstaff, Arizona.[2] A 16-inch Schmidt telescope and a 32-inch reflector were donated to Perkins and replaced the 69-inch telescope.[11] After its transfer, the telescope's optics were upgraded to a 72-inch mirror and it was used jointly by the two universities and the observatory.[b][2][13] It continued serving as the primary research instrument for Ohio State's astronomy department until 1998.[c][2]

Slettebak held another Fulbright fellowships for the 1974–75 academic year, this time at Vienna University.[16] During his career, he also undertook visiting professorships in Vienna and Strasbourg.[2] He retired from the astronomy department in 1994, becoming professor emeritus.[2] In 2015, the Ohio State University planetarium was renamed the Arne Slettebak Planetarium in honour of his legacy.[8]

Research

One of Slettebak's main research interests was the rotation of stars.[8] This topic had been in a 'golden age' during the 1930s as a result of observational evidence from Otto Struve and Grigory Shajn but was abandoned for nearly 15 years after Pol Swings established that axial rotation in close binaries with short periods is approximately or perfectly synchronized with the orbital motion.[17][18] After the World War II, interest in the field was renewed, in particular as a result of Slettebak, who published a series of papers on the topic starting in 1949.[19] He assembled the main results pertaining to the field in the period between 1930 and 1970, finding that the distribution of rotational velocities along the main sequence increases from low values in F-type stars to a maximum in B-type stars.[20]

His other principal interest was in Be stars, for which he organised multiple commissions at the International Astronomical Union and participated in other conferences.[2][21] He remained active in research even after retirement, publishing the last of his more than 90 papers, abstracts and articles in 1998.[2][8]

Personal life

Slettebak married Constance Lorraine Pixler, a music graduate from the College of Wooster, on August 28, 1949;[1] the couple had a daughter and a son.[22] He died on May 20, 1999 at the age of 73 in Worthington, Ohio after a brief illness.[2][22] Pixler died in 2006 at the age of 82.[23]

Notes

  1. ^ Instruction and research at the McMillin Observatory had already diminished significantly, mainly because its 12.5 refracting telescope was too small and had, by 1931, been dwarfed by 69-inch telescope present at the Perkins Observatory.[9]
  2. ^ Perkins Observatory was already owned by Ohio Wesleyan University and jointly operated with the Ohio State University prior to the transfer.[12]
  3. ^ In 1998, Ohio State ended its partnership with Ohio Wesleyan and Lowell Observatory, and the 72-inch mirror was sold to Lowell.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ a b "Daughter of Former Athol Pastor Will Become Bride Sunday". Athol Daily News. August 18, 1949. p. 3. Retrieved July 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pogge & Newsom 2000, pp. 1686–1687.
  3. ^ "Alumni: Arne E. Slettebak, 1949". University of Chicago. Archived from the original on December 14, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Astronomical Lectures Set At University". The Columbia Record. March 20, 1961. p. 12. Retrieved July 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Osterbrock 1997, p. 305.
  6. ^ a b Jossem 1969, pp. 70, 102.
  7. ^ "OSU Board Upholds Oath". The Daily Sentinel-Tribune. December 12, 1959. p. 2. Retrieved July 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b c d e "OSU Planetarium to be named for Professor Arne Slettebak". The Ohio State University. April 15, 2015. Archived from the original on June 4, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c Wenning, Carl J. (December 19, 2020). "Emerson McMillin and his Astronomical Observatory" (PDF). Ohio State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 23, 2024. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  10. ^ Jossem 1969, pp. 69.
  11. ^ "Giant Scope Readied for Arizona Trip". The Plain Dealer. March 4, 1961. p. 4. Retrieved July 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "New Observatory To Be Built At Perkins South of Delaware". The Marion Star. March 18, 1960. p. 12. Retrieved July 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "5th Largest Reflector To Locate Here". Arizona Daily Sun. January 7, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved July 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Eicher, David J. (May 18, 2023). "America's observatory enters a new age". Astronomy.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  15. ^ "About OSU Astronomy". Ohio State University. Archived from the original on July 3, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  16. ^ "Arne Slettebak". Fulbright Program. Archived from the original on July 23, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  17. ^ Hearnshaw 1990, pp. 199–200.
  18. ^ Tassoul 2000, pp. 3–4.
  19. ^ Tassoul 2000, p. 4.
  20. ^ Tassoul 2000, p. 12.
  21. ^ "Arne Slettebak". International Astronomical Union. Archived from the original on December 31, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  22. ^ a b "Deaths: 1940s and 1950s". Class Notes. The University of Chicago Magazine. Vol. 92, no. 4. University of Chicago. April 2000. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
  23. ^ "Constance Slettebak Obituary". The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024 – via Legacy.com.

Sources

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