Nationality Germany Parents Oskar Minkowski Fields astronomy Name Rudolph Minkowski | Role Astronomer | |
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Rudolph Minkowski (born Rudolf Leo Bernhard Minkowski ; [mɪŋˈkɔfski]; May 28, 1895 – January 4, 1976) was a German-American astronomer.
Biography
Minkowski was the son of Marie Johanna Siegel and physiologist Oskar Minkowski. His uncle was Hermann Minkowski, a mathematician and one of Einstein's teachers in Zürich. Rudolph studied supernovae and, together with Walter Baade, divided them into two classes (Type I and Type II) based on their spectral characteristics. He and Baade also found optical counterparts to various radio sources.
He headed the National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, a photographic atlas of the entire northern sky (and down to declination -22°) up to an apparent magnitude of 22.
Together with Albert George Wilson, he co-discovered the near-Earth Apollo asteroid 1620 Geographos in 1951. He also discovered Planetary Nebula M2-9. He won the Bruce Medal in 1961. The lunar crater Minkowski is named after him and his uncle.