Arthur Robert Hogg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Robert Hogg (November 25, 1903–March 31, 1966) was an Australian physicist and astronomer.

He was born in Creswick, Victoria, and attended school at the Royal Melbourne Technical College. He received his advanced education at the University of Melbourne where he earned his B.Sc. in 1923 and M.S. in 1925. In 1927, he began working at the Broken Hill Associated Smelters in Port Pirie, South Australia, becoming the assistant supervisor of research, and he remained there until 1929. He then joined the Mount Stromlo Observatory, then called the Commonwealth Solar Observatory, as an assistant and he remained associated with the observatory until his death in 1966.

At Mount Stromlo, he took up the study of electrical phenomena in the atmosphere, including ionization in the lower atmosphere. He then transitioned into the study of cosmic rays. In 1933 he was married to Irene Doris Randell. The couple had two sons and a daughter.

Beginning in 1940, near the start of World War II, he worked as a physicist in the Chemical Defence Section at the Munitions Supply Laboratories in Maribyrnong. There his work was focused on the study of respirators. In 1944, he became secretary of the Physical and Meteorological Sub-Committee at the Lab.

After the war he returned to work at observatory. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1950 from the University of Melbourne, based on his study of cosmic rays. He now began astronomical studies using photoelectric photometry and produced a series of papers on eclipsing variables, globular clusters in the galaxy, and the magellanic clouds.

He also became involved in the administration of the observatory and played a leading role in establishing the new 74-inch telescope. Later he selected Siding Spring Mountain as the site of an 150-inch telescope, located further from the encroaching growth near the older observatory. He was the deputy director of the Mount Stromlo Observatory from 1961 to 1966.

Hogg served in other positions of note, including as president of the Royal Society of Canberra in 1954; chairman of the Australian Institute of Physics, Australian Capital Territory branch, 1964, and the Commission 6 on Astronomical Telegrams of the International Astronomical Union from 1961 until 1964.