George Herbig

George Howard Herbig (January 2, 1920 – October 12, 2013) was an American astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.[1] He is perhaps best known for the discovery of Herbig–Haro objects.[2][3]

George Herbig
Born	(1920-01-02)January 2, 1920 Wheeling, West Virginia
Died	October 12, 2013(2013-10-12) (aged 93) Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
Citizenship	United States citizen
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Known for	Herbig–Haro objects Herbig Ae/Be stars
Scientific career
Fields	Star formation, interstellar medium
Institutions	University of Hawaii

Background

Born in 1920 in Wheeling, West Virginia,[4] Herbig received his Ph.D in 1948 at the University of California, Berkeley; his dissertation is entitled A Study of Variable Stars in Nebulosity.

Career

His specialty was stars at an early stage of evolution (a class of intermediate mass pre–main sequence stars are named Herbig Ae/Be stars after him) and the interstellar medium. He was perhaps best known for his discovery, with Guillermo Haro, of the Herbig–Haro objects; bright patches of nebulosity excited by bipolar outflow from a star being born.

Herbig also made prominent contributions to the field of diffuse interstellar band (DIB) research, especially through a series of nine articles published between 1963 and 1995 entitled "The diffuse interstellar bands."

Honors

Awards

• Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society (1955)[5]
• Foreign Scientific Member, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg
• Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the AAS (1975)[6]
• Médaille, Université de Liège (1969)
• Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1980)[1]
• Petrie Prize and Lectureship of the Canadian Astronomical Society (1995)

Named after him

Herbig–Haro object (HH) 212.[7]

• Asteroid 11754 Herbig
• Herbig Ae/Be stars
• Herbig–Haro objects

Selected publications

• "High-Resolution Spectroscopy of FU Orionis Stars", ApJ 595 (2003) 384–411 [8]
• "The Young Cluster IC 5146", AJ 123 (2002) 304–327 [9]
• "Barnard's Merope Nebula Revisited: New Observational Results", AJ 121 (2001) 3138–3148 [10]
• "The Diffuse Interstellar Bands", Annu. Rev. Astrophys. 33 (1995) 19–73
• "The Unusual Pre-Main-Sequence star VY Tauri", ApJ 360 (1990) 639–649
• "The Structure and Spectrum of R Monocerotis", ApJ 152 (1968) 439
• "The Spectra of Two Nebulous Objects Near NGC 1999", ApJ 113 (1951) 697

References

1. "The Bruce Medalists: George Howard Herbig". Retrieved 2010-02-01.
2. "George Herbig (1920-2013)". AstroWright. 2013-10-13. Archived from the original on 2013-10-25. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
3. Reipurth, B. (2013). "George Herbig (1920–2013) Astronomer who pioneered studies of young stars". Nature. 503 (7477): 470. Bibcode:2013Natur.503..470R. doi:10.1038/503470a. PMID 24284724.
5. "Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy". American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 2010-12-22. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
6. "Henry Norris Russell Lectureship". American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 2010-12-22. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
7. "Outbursts from a newborn star". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
8. Herbig, G. H.; Petrov, P. P.; Duemmler, R. (2003). "High-Resolution Spectroscopy of FU Orionis Stars". The Astrophysical Journal. 595 (1): 384–411. arXiv:astro-ph/0306559. Bibcode:2003ApJ...595..384H. doi:10.1086/377194.
9. Herbig, G. H.; Dahm, S. E. (2002). "The Young Cluster IC 5146". The Astronomical Journal. 123 (1): 304. Bibcode:2002AJ....123..304H. doi:10.1086/324638.
10. Herbig, G. H.; Simon, T. (2001). "Barnard's Merope Nebula Revisited: New Observational Results". The Astronomical Journal. 121 (6): 3138–3148. Bibcode:2001AJ....121.3138H. doi:10.1086/321077.

Further reading

• Reipurth, Bo. GEORGE HERBIG and Early Stellar Evolution. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Special Publications No. 1.