Hendrik C. van de Hulst

Hendrik C. van de Hulst

Born November 19, 1918(1918-11-19)
Utrecht
Died July 31, 2000(2000-07-31) (aged 81)
Leiden
Nationality Dutch
Fields astronomy
Institutions University of Leiden
Known for 21 cm hyperfine line
Notable awards Henry Draper Medal (1955)

Hendrik Christoffel "Henk" van de Hulst FRS[1] (Utrecht, November 19, 1918 – Leiden, July 31, 2000) was a Dutch astronomer and mathematician.

In 1944, while a student in Utrecht, he predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral interstellar hydrogen. After this line was discovered, he participated, with Jan Oort and (not this) Alex Muller, in the effort to use radio astronomy to map out the neutral hydrogen in our galaxy, which first revealed its spiral structure.

He published well known book on light scattering and developed anomalous diffraction approximation describing light scattering by optically soft and large spheres.

He spent most of his career at the University of Leiden.

Honors

Awards

Named after him

References

  1. ^ Cook, A. (2001). "Hendrik Christoffel Van De Hulst Ridder in De Orde Van Nederlandse Leeuw. 19 November 1918 - 31 July 2000: Elected For.Mem.R.S. 1991". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 47: 465. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2001.0028.  edit
  2. ^ "Henry Draper Medal". National Academy of Sciences. http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_draper. Retrieved 24 February 2011. 
  3. ^ "Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html. Retrieved 24 February 2011. 

Bibliography