Ethnicity:
Both of Osterbrock's parents were of German descent.
Donald Osterbrock was born on July 13, 1924, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States; the son of William C. Osterbrock, a professor, and Elsie (Wettlin) Osterbrock, a homemaker.
Donald Edward Osterbrock attended the University of Chicago. Here he earned a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1948, followed by a Master of Science in 1949 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1952.
Donald Edward Osterbrock served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. A year teaching at Princeton was followed by several years as an instructor and assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology. Osterbrock was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin - Madison from 1958 to 1973, also chairing the astronomy department there from 1969 to 1972. He would spend the remainder of his academic career at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he was a professor of astronomy and astrophysics and, from 1973 to 1981, director of the Lick Observatory. He retired in 1992.
The author of the standard textbook The Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei (1989), Osterbrock was interested in nebulae and star formation. His first significant discovery was announced in 1951 when he used research on star formation to help determine that the Milky Way has a spiral shape. His work also explained how physics within the Sun worked to maintain its shape and why the corona is actually hotter than the Sun's surface. Among Osterbrock's other publications are the biographies James E. Keeler, Pioneer American Astrophysicist: And the Early Development of American Astrophysics (1984), Pauper and Prince: Richey, Hale, and Big American Telescopes (1993), and Walter Baade: A Life in Astrophysics (2001). He also edited several titles and was the author of the history Yerkes Observatory, 1892-1950: The Birth, Near Death, and Resurrection of a Scientific Research Institution (1997).
Donald Edward Osterbrock was one of the leading figures of post-World War II astronomy. He received a number of honors for his contributions to this field. For example, he was presented with the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal in 1991 and the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal in 1997, the highest honor, seldom given to an American astronomer. An asteroid was also named after him in 1996.
In recognition for his work, the AAS's Historical Astronomy Division awarded him in 2002 the Leroy E. Doggett Prize, the highest award given to a historian of astronomy.
(Drawing on his experience as historian of astronomy, prac...)
1997(Although less well known outside the field than Edwin Hub...)
2001(Thoroughly revised and expanded throughout, the new editi...)
1989(Eye on the Sky presents Lick Observatory from the point o...)
1988Donald Osterbrock's main line of research had been observational work on the gas in active nuclei of galaxies - especially radio galaxies, Seyfert galaxies, and X-ray galaxies - and its interpretation. He had also been observing quasars, as well as galaxies with weaker emission lines or lower-ionization emission lines, to find the relationship among these objects. They are all related members of "one-family," but at different luminosities, containing different amounts of dust and gas, and perhaps in different stages of their evolution. There is strong observational evidence that interactions, perturbations, and mergers of galaxies are connected with activity in their nuclei. Osterbrock also worked on the interpretation of these data in terms of the formation and evolution of active galactic nuclei.
The best working hypothesis is that many, if not all, "normal" galaxies contain black holes in their nuclei, which without new fuel in the form of gas with very nearly zero angular momentum are quiescent. Refueled in an interaction, however, they can pass through the star formation phase to, in some cases, the active galactic nucleus phase. Connecting these qualitative observational statements with the results of quantitative but schematized theoretical ideas and numerical computation is the most important problem in current research on active galactic nuclei.
Quotations:
"I believe that, as an astronomer, I can understand the history of my subject better than most other historians. My familiarity with Lick, Yerkes, Mount Wilson, and Palomar Observatories enables me to understand the scientists who worked there (and in other observatories) earlier. The continuity of the long line of astronomers, from the great figures of the past right down to us today is an endlessly fascinating subject to me."
"I am a research astronomer. Most of my books are textbooks, research monographs, or books for the semitechnical, interested reader. I wrote them to communicate my ideas and methods in special fields."
Donald Edward Osterbrock was a member of the International Astronomy Union, National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, American Astronomical Society, Royal Astronomical Society, Astronomy Society of the Pacific and Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters.
Donald Edward Osterbrock was a brilliant scientist, a natural leader, and a gifted historian, yet he was also very modest and unassuming. His firm handshake, warm, infectious smile, and congenial personality were hard to resist. He thrived in the companies of his colleagues and students, freely sharing his ideas on science, history of science, or history in general.
Donald Edward Osterbrock married Irene L. Hansen on September 19, 1952. The couple had three children - Carol A. Osterbrock LePage, William C. and Laura.
William C. Osterbrock was an electrical engineer.
(1926 - 2019)
