Rudolph Leo Bernhard Minkowski

Rudolph Leo Bernhard Minkowski

1961

Date of Birth
: 
May 28, 1895
Date of Death
: 
January 4, 1976

Born in Strassburg, Germany (now Strasbourg, France), Rudolph Minkowski earned his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Breslau (now Wroclaw) after serving in the German army during World War I. He taught and worked—first in atomic physics, later in observational astronomy—at Hamburg from 1922 to 1935, after which he joined the Mt. Wilson Observatory staff. After retirement in 1960, he continued research at the University of California at Berkeley. Minkowski studied spectra, distributions, and motions of planetary nebulae and more than doubled the number known. He investigated the spectra of novae and supernovae and their remnants, especially the Crab nebula, where he found the central star. He divided supernovae into Types I and II. He designed instruments, including Schmidt cameras for use in spectrographs. He headed the National Geographic Society–Palomar Observatory Sky Survey which photographed the entire northern sky in the 1950s. With Walter Baade he optically identified many of the early radio sources, among them active galaxies, including Cygnus A and Perseus A, and supernova remnants, including Cassiopeia A and Puppis A. Later he investigated the velocity dispersions of clusters of galaxies. Just before his mandatory retirement in 1960, Minkowski found what remained for years the largest known redshift (0.46) in a galaxy.

Presentation of Bruce medal

Nicholson, Seth B., PASP 73, 85 (1961).

Biographical materials

Durham, Ian T., Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (Springer, NY, 2007), pp. 786-87.
Osterbrock, Donald E., “Rudolph Minkowski: Observational Astrophysicist,” Physics Today 38, 4, 50-57 (1985).
Osterbrock, Donald E., Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Science 54, 271-98 (1983).
Plicht, Chris, Rudolph Minkowski

Obituaries

Kuhi, Leonard V., Physics Today 29, 3, 78-80 (1976).
Phillips, John G., Mercury 5, 1, 2 (1976).
New York Times, 12 January 1976, p. 30.
More obituaries

Portraits

Caltech Archives (several)
Friedman, Jon R., Portrait Sketch
Eric Weisstein

Named after him

Lunar crater Minkowski [named for him and his uncle Hermann]
Minor Planet #11770 Rudominkowski [#12493 Minkowski was named for his uncle Hermann]

Bibliography

Papers, etc.

Minkowski’s papers are at the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. There is an oral history interview at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives.

Other References: Historical

Greenstein, Jesse L., “Optical and Radio Astronomers in the Early Years,” in K. Kellermann & B. Sheets, eds., Serendipitous Discoveries in Radio Astronomy (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, WV, 1983), pp. 79-88.

Greenstein, Jesse L., “Optical and Radio Astronomers in the Early Years,” in W.T. Sullivan, III, ed., The Early Years of Radio Astronomy (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 1984), pp. 67-81. [This is NOT the same as the previous article.]

Robinson, Ivor, Alfred Schild, & E. L. Schucking, “Editors’ Introduction: The Discovery of Radio Galaxies and Quasars,” Quasistellar Sources and Gravitational Collapse, Proceedings of the First Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics (University of Chicago Press,Chicago and London, 1965).

Sandage, Allan, Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Vol. 1, The Mount Wilson Observatory: Breaking the Code of Cosmic Evolution (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2004).

Sullivan, III, W.T., “Rudolph Minkowski, Walter Baade, and Early Radio Astronomy,” Bull. AAS 182, 932 (1993).

Search ADS for works about Minkowski

Other References:Scientific

Minkowski, R., “Untersuchungen über die magnetische Drehung der Polarisation-sebene in nichtleuchtenden Na-Dampf,” Annalen der Physik 371, 206-26 (1921).

Ladenburg, Yon R. & R. Minkowski, “Die Verdampfungswärme des Natriums und die Übergangswahrscheinlichkeit des Na-Atoms aus dem Resonanz- in den Normalzustand auf Grund optischer Messungen,” Zeitschrift für Physik 6, 153-64 (1921).

Minkowski, R., “Natürliche Breite und Druckverbreiterung von Spektrallinien,” Zeitschrift für Physik 36, 839-58 (1926).

Baade, W., F. Goos, P.P. Koch, & R. Minkowski, “Die Intensitätsverteilung in den Spektrallinien des Orion-Nebels,” Zeitschrift für Astrophysik 6, 355-84 (1933) and 9, 202 (1934).

Minkowski, R. & H. Bruck, “Wahre und scheinbare Breite von Spektrallinien,” Zeitschrift für Physik 95, 299-301 (1935).

Baade, W. & R. Minkowski, “The Spectrum of Comet Peltier (1936a),” PASP 48, 276-78 (1936).

Minkowski, R., “Note on the Motion of Masses of Gas near Novae,” Ap.J. 85, 18-25 (1937).

Baade, W. & R. Minkowski, “The Trapezium Cluster of the Orion Nebula,” Ap.J. 86, 119-22 (1937).

Baade, W. & R. Minkowski, “Spectrophotometric Investigations of Some O- and B-Type Stars Connected with the Orion Nebula,” Ap.J. 86, 123-35 (1937).

Bowen, I.S. & R. Minkowski, “Effect of Collisions on the Intensities of Nebular Lines,” Nature 142, 1079-80 (1938).

Minkowski, R., “The Spectra of the Supernovae in IC 4182 and in NGC 1003,” Ap.J. 89, 156-217 (1939).

Richardson, R.S. & R. Minkowski, “The Spectra of Bright Chromospheric Eruptions from λ 3300 to λ 11500,” Ap.J. 89, 347-55 (1939).

Minkowski, R., “Spectra of Supernovae,” PASP 53, 224-25 (1941).

Minkowski, R., “Spectra of Planetary Nebulae of Low Surface Brightness,” Ap.J. 95, 243-47 (1942).

Minkowski, R., “The Origin of Cometary Nebulae,” PASP 54, 190-94 (1942).

Minkowski, R., “The Crab Nebula,” Ap.J. 96, 199-213 (1942). [reprinted, with commentary in Lang, Kenneth R. & Owen Gingerich, eds., A Source Book in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 1900-1975 (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1979).]

Swings, P., A. McKellar, & R. Minkowski, “Cometary Emission Spectra in the Visual Region,” Ap.J. 98, 142-52 (1943).

Minkowski, R., “Schmidt Systems as Spectrograph Cameras,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 34, 89-92 (1944).

Minkowski, R., “New Emission Nebulae,” PASP 58, 305 (1946); 59, 257 (1947); and 60, 386 (1948).

Minkowski, R., “The Diffuse Nebula in Monoceros,” PASP 61, 151-53 (1949).

Greenstein, Jesse L. & Rudolph Minkowski, “The Crab Nebula as a Radio Source,” Ap.J. 118, 1-15 (1953).

Baade, W. & R. Minkowski, “Identification of the Radio Sources in Cassiopeia, Cygnus A and Puppis A,” Ap.J. 119, 206-214 (1954) [reprinted in the centennial edition Ap.J. 525, 538 (1999) with a modern commentary by G. Burbidge, and also in Lang, Kenneth R. & Owen Gingerich, eds., A Source Book in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 1900-1975 (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1979), 786-91].

Baade, W. & R. Minkowski, “On the Identification of Radio Sources,” 119, 215-31 (1954).

Minkowski, R. & Lawrence H. Aller, “The Spectrum of the Radio Source in Cassiopeia,” Ap.J. 119, 232-37 (1954).

Minkowski, R. & Jesse L. Greenstein, “The Power Radiated by Some Discrete Sources of Radio Noise,” Ap.J. 119, 238 (1954).

Baade, W. & Minkowski, R., “Abnormal Galaxies as Radio Sources,” Observatory 74, 130-31 (1954).

Minkowski, R., “The Observational Background of Cosmical Gasdynamics,” in Gas Dynamics of Cosmic Clouds, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 2 held at Cambridge, England, July 6-11, 1953 (North Holland Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1955), p. 3-12.

Minkowski, R., “Radiative and Collisional Excitation,” in Gas Dynamics of Cosmic Clouds, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 2 held at Cambridge, England, July 6-11, 1953 (North Holland Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1955), p. 106-10.

Aller, L.H., I.S. Bowen, & R. Minkowski, “The Spectrum of NGC 7027,” Ap.J. 122, 62-71 (1955).

Minkowski, R. & O.C. Wilson, “Proportionality of Nebular Red Shifts to Wave Length.,” Ap.J. 123, 373 (1956).

Minkowski, R. & Lawrence H. Aller, “Spectrophotometry of Planetary Nebulae,” Ap.J. 124, 93 (1956).

Minkowski, R., “Optical Investigations of Radio Sources (Introductory Lecture),” in Hendrik Christoffel Van de Hulst, ed., Radio Astronomy, Proceedings from 4th IAU Symposium. International Astronomical Union, (Cambridge University Press, 1957), p.107-22.

Minkowski, R., “The Problem of the Identification of Extragalactic Radio Sources,” PASP. 70, 143 (1958).

Minkowski, R., “Cygnus Loop and Some Related Nebulosities,” Reviews of Modern Physics 30, 1048-52 (1958).

Minkowski, R., “A New Distant Cluster of Galaxies,” Ap.J. 132, 908-10 (1960).

Baum, William A. & R. Minkowski, “Observations of a Large Redshift,” Astronomical Journal 65, 483 (1960).

Minkowski, R., “Problems of Extragalactic Spectroscopy,” Annales d’Astrophysique 23, 385-96 (1960).

Minkowski, Rudolph, “International Cooperative Efforts Directed toward Optical Identification of Radio Sources,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 46, 13-19 (1960).

Minkowski, Rudolph, “NGC 6166 and the Cluster Abell 2199,” Astronomical Journal 66, 558-61 (1961).

Minkowski, Rudolph, “The Luminosity Function of Extragalactic Radio Sources,” in Jerzy Neyman, ed., Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability, vol. III, (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 1961), p. 245-59.

Minkowski, Rudolph, “Internal Dispersion of Velocities in Other Galaxies,” in G.C. McVittie, ed., Problems of Extra-Galactic Research, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 15 (Macmillan, NY, 1962), pp. 112-17.

Minkowski, Rudolph, “Identification of Optical Objects,” in G.C. McVittie, ed., Problems of Extra-Galactic Research, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 15 (Macmillan, NY, 1962), pp. 201-09.

Minkowski, Rudolph, “Problems of Observation and Interpretation,” in G.C. McVittie, ed., Problems of Extra-Galactic Research, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 15 (Macmillan, NY, 1962), pp. 379-89.

Minkowski, Rudolph, “Radio Sources, Galaxies, and Clusters of Galaxies,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 49, 779-84 (1963).

Minkowski, R. & G.O. Abell, “The National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey,” in K.A. Strand, ed., Basic Astronomical Data: Stars and Stellar Systems (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1968), pp. 481ff (1963).

Minkowski, Rudolph, “Supernovae and Supernova Remnants,” Ann. Revs. Astron. & Astrophys. 2, 247-66 (1964).

Greenstein, Jesse L. & Rudolph Minkowski, “The Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae of Low Surface Brightness,” Ap.J. 140, 1601-03 (1964).

Minkowski, R., “Planetary Nebulae,” in A. Blaauw & M. Schmidt, eds., Galactic Structure (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1965), pp. 321-44 (1965).

Minkowski, Rudolph, “Seyfert Galaxy Conference: 1. Introductory Remarks,” Astronomical Journal 73, 842 (1968).

King, Ivan R. & Rudolph Minkowski, “Mass-Luminosity Ratios and Sizes of Giant Elliptical Galaxies,” in D.S. Evans, D. Wills, & B.J. Wills, eds., External Galaxies and Quasi-Stellar Objects, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 44 held in Uppsala, Sweden, 10-14 August 1970 (D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1972), pp. 87-88.

Greenstein, Jesse L. & R. Minkowski, “An Atlas of Supernova Spectra.,” Ap.J. 182, 225-43 (1973).

Minkowski, Rudolph, “The Identification of Radio Sources,” in Allan Sandage, Mary Sandage, & Jerome Kristian, eds., Galaxies and the Universe, (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1975), p. 177-97.

Search ADS for works by Minkowski

Other Works: Popularizations, History, etc.

Minkowski, Rudolph, “Twenty Years Astronomy with the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain,” in The Role of Schmidt Telescopes in Astronomy, ed. by U. Haug (Hamburg Observatory, Hamburg, 1972), p. 5-8.