Bengt Edlén (November 2, 1906 – February 10, 1993) was a Swedish professor of physics and astronomer who specialized in spectroscopy. He participated in solving the Corona Mystery: unidentified spectral lines in the sun's spectrum were speculatively believed to originate from a hitherto unidentified chemical element termed coronium. Edlén later showed that those lines are from multiply ionized iron (Fe-XIV). His discovery was not immediately accepted, since the alleged ionization required a temperature of millions of degrees. Later such solar corona temperatures were verified.
He also made an important contribution in analyzing spectra of Wolf-Rayet stars.[1][2]
Edlén was professor at Lund University 1944–1973. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1947.
Bengt Edlén received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 1945 for the solution of the Corona Mystery,[3] the Howard N. Potts Medal in 1946 for researches in the extreme ultraviolet,[4] and the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences[5] in 1968.