Sandage, Allan Rex

Sandage, Allan Rex,

1926–2010, American astronomer, b. Iowa City, Iowa, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1953. He was a graduate student under Walter BaadeBaade, Walter
, 1893–1960, German-born American astronomer. From 1919 to 1931 he was on the staff of the Hamburg observatory; from 1931 to 1958, at the Mt. Wilson observatory.
..... Click the link for more information.  and an assistant to Edwin HubbleHubble, Edwin Powell,
1889–1953, American astronomer, b. Marshfield, Mo. He did research (1914–17) at Yerkes Observatory, and joined (1919) the staff of Mt. Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, Calif., of which he became director. Building on V. M.
..... Click the link for more information. . A member of the staff of the Carnegie Observatories from 1952 (emeritus from 1997), he continued Hubble's observational cosmology work after Hubble's death (1953) using the telescopes of Mt. Wilson and Palomar observatories and, much later, the Hubble Space Telescope. Sandage worked his entire career to determine the value of Hubble's constant (see Hubble's lawHubble's law,
in astronomy, statement that the distances between galaxies (see galaxy) or clusters of galaxies are continuously increasing and that therefore the universe is expanding.
..... Click the link for more information. ), the expansion rate of the universe, making seminal contributions to dating the age of the universe and its stars and helping to win acceptance of the big-bang theory (see cosmologycosmology,
area of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe. Modern Cosmological Theories
..... Click the link for more information. ). He also discovered the existence of quasarsquasar
, one of a class of blue celestial objects having the appearance of stars when viewed through a telescope and currently believed to be the most distant and most luminous objects in the universe; the name is shortened from quasi-stellar radio source (QSR).
..... Click the link for more information.  and produced a three-dimensional atlas of the galaxies based on a survey that he led of the galaxies' red shiftsred shift
or redshift,
in astronomy, the systematic displacement of individual lines in the spectrum of a celestial object toward the red, or longer wavelength, end of the visible spectrum. The effect was discovered by V. M. Slipher of Lowell Observatory.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Sandage, Allan Rex

(1926– ) astronomer; born in Iowa City, Iowa. An astronomer at the Carnegie Observatory (1956), he was a senior researcher scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (1987). In 1950 he deduced the universe's age—10 billion years—and in 1960 he discovered quasars. He published The Hubble Atlas of Galaxies (1961) and compiled The Carnegie Atlas of Bright Galaxies with astronomical photographer John Bedke. In 1991, he was awarded the prestigious Crafoord Prize.