Jan Oort

Jan Hendrik Oort (April 28, 1900 – November 5, 1992) was an internationally famous Dutch astronomer. He profoundly stimulated radio astronomy. The well-known Oort cloud bears his name.

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Oort was born in Franeker in Friesland and studied in Groningen with Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn. His Ph.D thesis was titled The stars of high velocity. In 1927 he proved that the Milky Way galaxy rotates, by analyzing the movements of stars. In 1935 he became professor at Leiden University at the faculty where Ejnar Hertzsprung was the director.

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Oort was fascinated by radio waves from the universe. After the Second World War he was a pioneer in the new field of radio astronomy, using an old radar antenna from the Germans.

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In the 1950s he raised funds for a new radio telescope in Dwingeloo, in the east part of the Netherlands, to research the centre of the galaxy. In 1970 a bigger telescope (the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope) was built in Westerbork, near the old one. It consisted of twelve smaller telescopes working together as an interferometer to perform aperture synthesis observations, a technique which had been previously suggested by Oort, but which was first tested experimentally in Cambridge by Martin Ryle and in Sydney by Joseph Pawsey.

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His hypothesis that the comets have a common origin, postulated in 1950, was later proven to be correct. Another contribution of Oort was that he was able to demonstrate that the light from the Crab nebula was polarized.

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1900: :For the film, see 1900 (film)....

November 5: November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining....

1992: 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday....

Jan Oort related Images and Photos (experimental)

Jan Sterling	Jan-Michael Vincent	"Skiing Woman " Jan/Feb 84	1984 Jan Sterling Edmond O'Brien 1956
Jan Van Riebeeck Lands in Table Bay Where He Founds Cape Town	The Martyrdom of Jan Hus	The Brady Bunch 'Real Jan Brady' T-Shirt - Yellow	The Brady Bunch 'Real Jan Brady' T-Shirt - Yellow
Boris Mark and Jan Hambourg Russian-Born Musicians	The Landing of Jan Van Riebeeck (1619-77) 6th April 1652 1850	Portrait of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck 1624	Portrait of Jan Both Engraved by Johannes Meyssens