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Arthur Hoag
Arthur Allen Hoag (January 28, 1921 - July 17, 1999) was an American astronomer most famous for his discovery of Hoag's Object, a type of ring galaxy, in 1950. He worked at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, was director of the stellar division of Kitt Peak National Observatory and later the director of Lowell Observatory from 1977-1986. He was also one of the founders of the dark-sky movement.
Hoag was born January 28, 1921, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the son of Lynne Arthur Hoag (Harvard Medical School, Cornell, and University of Michigan faculty member) and Wylma Wood Hoag. He had two sisters, Mary Alice (born 1922) and Elizabeth Ruth (born 1919). His mother and sister Mary (aged 3) died on June 1, 1926, when the paddle steamer Washington Irving was rammed by an oil barge and sunk on the North River.
Hoag's interest in astronomy started in high school, and he went on to Brown University, where he was encouraged by Charles Smiley and graduated in 1942 with a B.A. in physics. He then went to work at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory working on subsurface weapons.
After WWII ended, he enrolled in the PhD program at Harvard's Department of Astronomy, where he was advised by Bart Bok. He completed his dissertation in 1952 on scanning photometry of spiral galaxies.
During his PhD program, Hoag was a research assistant for John S. Hall at the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). In 1955, he became the first director of the Flagstaff Station of the Observatory, where he oversaw the transfer to the station from Washington of a 40-inch telescope, conducted a mapping study of polarization in the Milky Way with John Hall, and conducted with others a photometry study of open clusters. He was also one of the first to experiment with cooled photographic emulsions.
He left USNO in 1966 to become director of the stellar division of Kitt Peak National Observatory. While there, he helped develop instrumentation for the 4-meter Mayall Telescope as well as developed the idea of a coudé feed for the 2.1-meter telescope, a means of directing light from a large mirror to a small telescope attached to a spectrograph. He also applied grism (combination diffraction grating and prism) spectroscopy to the study of quasars.
In 1977, Hoag became the fifth director of the Lowell Observatory, succeeding his mentor John Hall, a position he kept until his retirement in 1986. During his time at Lowell, he focused on improving its observational facilities as well as its financial security. He successfully guided the observatory through a time when the future of astronomical research was in question, both keeping research programs intact and starting Lowell's public program.
While at Lowell, Hoag was also one of the founders of the dark-sky movement, which seeks to reduce light pollution. In 1987, he tested low-pressure sodium lights on Santa Fe Avenue in Flagstaff, Arizona. This ultimately resulted in a mandate by the city to replace all mercury vapor lights, thus reducing sky glow, lowering energy requirements, and reducing the impact of light on the natural rhythms of animals and humans.
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Arthur Hoag
Arthur Allen Hoag (January 28, 1921 - July 17, 1999) was an American astronomer most famous for his discovery of Hoag's Object, a type of ring galaxy, in 1950. He worked at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, was director of the stellar division of Kitt Peak National Observatory and later the director of Lowell Observatory from 1977-1986. He was also one of the founders of the dark-sky movement.
Hoag was born January 28, 1921, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the son of Lynne Arthur Hoag (Harvard Medical School, Cornell, and University of Michigan faculty member) and Wylma Wood Hoag. He had two sisters, Mary Alice (born 1922) and Elizabeth Ruth (born 1919). His mother and sister Mary (aged 3) died on June 1, 1926, when the paddle steamer Washington Irving was rammed by an oil barge and sunk on the North River.
Hoag's interest in astronomy started in high school, and he went on to Brown University, where he was encouraged by Charles Smiley and graduated in 1942 with a B.A. in physics. He then went to work at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory working on subsurface weapons.
After WWII ended, he enrolled in the PhD program at Harvard's Department of Astronomy, where he was advised by Bart Bok. He completed his dissertation in 1952 on scanning photometry of spiral galaxies.
During his PhD program, Hoag was a research assistant for John S. Hall at the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). In 1955, he became the first director of the Flagstaff Station of the Observatory, where he oversaw the transfer to the station from Washington of a 40-inch telescope, conducted a mapping study of polarization in the Milky Way with John Hall, and conducted with others a photometry study of open clusters. He was also one of the first to experiment with cooled photographic emulsions.
He left USNO in 1966 to become director of the stellar division of Kitt Peak National Observatory. While there, he helped develop instrumentation for the 4-meter Mayall Telescope as well as developed the idea of a coudé feed for the 2.1-meter telescope, a means of directing light from a large mirror to a small telescope attached to a spectrograph. He also applied grism (combination diffraction grating and prism) spectroscopy to the study of quasars.
In 1977, Hoag became the fifth director of the Lowell Observatory, succeeding his mentor John Hall, a position he kept until his retirement in 1986. During his time at Lowell, he focused on improving its observational facilities as well as its financial security. He successfully guided the observatory through a time when the future of astronomical research was in question, both keeping research programs intact and starting Lowell's public program.
While at Lowell, Hoag was also one of the founders of the dark-sky movement, which seeks to reduce light pollution. In 1987, he tested low-pressure sodium lights on Santa Fe Avenue in Flagstaff, Arizona. This ultimately resulted in a mandate by the city to replace all mercury vapor lights, thus reducing sky glow, lowering energy requirements, and reducing the impact of light on the natural rhythms of animals and humans.
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