Background
Kerr, Frank John was born on January 8, 1918 in St. Albans, England. Son of Frank Robison and Myrtle Constance (McMeekin) Kerr.
Astronomer university professor
Kerr, Frank John was born on January 8, 1918 in St. Albans, England. Son of Frank Robison and Myrtle Constance (McMeekin) Kerr.
Bachelor of Science, University Melbourne, Australia, 1938. Master of Science, University Melbourne, Australia, 1940. Doctor of Science, University Melbourne, Australia, 1962.
Master of Science, Harvard University, 1951.
Born in Street Albans to Australian parents, Kerr returned with his family to Australia after the completion of World War I. He received degrees in physics at the University of Melbourne and an Master of Arts in astronomy from Harvard University (1951). In 1940, Frank had joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) radiophysics laboratory in Sydney, Australia under the mentorship of Joseph Lade Pawsey. He pioneered the use of the magnetron, and also studied superrefraction.
In Australia in late 1951, Kerr used a specially built 36-foot transit telescope, the largest dish of its kind in Australia, and started mapping the Magellanic Clouds, discovering considerable amounts of neutral hydrogen and an extended envelope around both clouds.
Kerr coined the term "galactic warp" to refer to the distorting effect of the Magellanic Clouds" gravity on the shape of our own galaxy. Over the years he worked with various astronomers, including Colin Gum and Gart Westerhout.
From 1966 to 1979, he was a visiting, then full, professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park. He died of cancer at Silver Spring, Maryland.
Trustee Associate Universities, Inc., 1981-1984. Director Universities Space Research Association Astronomy Program, 1984-1995. Member International Astronomical Union (president commission 33 1976-1979), American Astronomical Society (councillor 1972-1975, vice president 1980-1982) Clubs: Cosmos (Washington).
Married Kathleen Royce, September 2, 1940. Married Maureen Parnell, January 7, 1966 (deceased March 1994). Children: Gillian Wheeler (deceased), Ian Kerr, Robin Lowry.