Biographical Memoirs Volume 64 (1994) / Chapter Skim
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Bart J. Bok
Bart J. Bok
Pages 72-97
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have accomplished alone. in writing of Bart Bok's movements on the astronomical stage, it is appropriate that this chronicle divides rather naturally into three acts, each set in a place where he macle a major mark on the clevelopment of astronomy.
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In high school, he was an active amateur astronomer and it was during this time that he became an admirer of Harlow Shapley, certainly the second strongest influence on his life. He read widely, and he wrote about astronomy for one of The Hague's newspapers.
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First, he met Harlow Shapley, director of the Harvard College Observatory, whom he had long admired. Shapley was impressed with the young man, and Bart was duly invited to come to Harvard the following year.
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administrative style on that of his hero. West Coast astronomy at the time tenclect to emphasize large telescopes and the pushing of observational techniques to their limits.
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The observational basis consisted of massive star counts and large numbers of proper motions, radial velocities, and spectral classifications. The aim was to de duce the spatial distribution of the stars in the solar neighborhood and, as far as possible, throughout the galaxy.
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He voiced concern about what he perceived to be "the war-like imperialist sentiment" at Harvard and in the country. At this point, he was one of the minority of the faculty who actively opposed American involvement in the war.
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Bart supervised the installation of the main instrument, a 26-31-inch Schmidt telescope that was patterned closely on a similar instrument at the Harvard Observatory's Oak Ridge (later Agassiz) Station.
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. HarIow Shapley appointed Bok associate director of the Harvard College Observatory in 1946, and Bart continued in this capacity until Shapley's retirement in 1952.
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This lee] to an increasing involvement in the advocacy for radio astronomy at the Washington level, which eventually led to the establishment of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
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The children tract now grown up anct Bok himself tract begun to branch out with his efforts on behalf of UNESCO and his participation in the establishment of the National Radio Astronomy Observatoryj though such things were not yet central to his tinily pattern. This was to change.
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The opportunity to work with these scientists was no doubt attractive, but it was the lure of the southern Milky Way and the opportunity to do galactic structure research in the way he wanted to clo it that were irresistible. Uncler the direction of Woolley, the Mount StromIo Observatory tract become an active research center with a 74-inch telescope in competition only with an oIcler telescope of similar size at the RacicTiffe Observatory in South Africa.
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From page 84... ...
Bart came to Australia with his own extensive professional network and gave astronomy at Mount Stromlo stronger international links than it had enjoyed up until that time. Several well-known American astronomers, such as Gerry and Katherine Kron, Frank Bradshaw Wood, Paul Hodge, and Lawrence Aller came on leave; both Walter Baade and Harlow Shapley came on extended visits; others, like Th.
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Arrangements were macle to allow some research students to work at the Australian National Raclio Astronomy Observatory, especially after the 210-foot radio telescope hac! been commissioned in 1961.
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Following the Shapley tradition, the Magellanic Cloud always received good press from Bart. He and Priscilla clict particularly valuable photometric work in a number of prominent clusters and associations, and in drawing people's attention to the unique place that the Magellanic Clouds occupy in galactic anct extragalactic research.
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He felt that he tract made consiclerable progress, especially in convincing influential politicians in Australia. But his penchant for speaking out boldly en cl generating frank, open discussion was an unusual one in Australian scientific politics of the time, which was generally concluctect very much behind closed doors by figures of the establishment.
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at the University of Arizona was still relatively small and very much in the shallow of the generously funded Kitt Peak National Observatory, just across the street, where clevelopment of the 150-inch telescope was in progress. Astronomy at the University of Arizona has grown enormously since then anct it is ironic that, in the present time of tight funding for national facilities, the shallow now crosses the street in the opposite direction.
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P Hayworth, then director of the founciation and an old friend of Bok's, felt that the staff at the National Observatory shouIct have access to young people who were part of a strong graduate student program.
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While he was one of the strongest supporters of the Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo observatories, he felt that the overall management techniques were not as good at that time than they couIcI have been. His involvement with the National Raclio Astronomy Observatory was both creeper and more satisfying.
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He was a strong propagandist for the density wave theory of galactic spiral structure as formulated by C
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In his scientific interests, there was a strong break from his early interest in the overall spiral structure of the Milky Way. Realizing that observational errors smoothest out the mapping of its features at distances greater than several thousand light years, he believer!
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Further awards came in acknowledgement of his lifelong service to astronomy. The Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific was awarded to him in 1977 and he was the Russell Lecturer of the American Astronomical Society in 1982.
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WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE the assistance of the Niels Bohr Library at the American Institute of Physics for access to the oral history transcripts of the interviews conducted by David DeVorkin in 1978.
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1934 The apparent clustering of external galaxies. Nature 133:578.
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Optical identification of southern radio sources. In: Paris Symposium on Radio Astronomy (IAU No.
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Optical data for selected Barnard objects. Astron.
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