Hertzsprung, Ejnar

Ejnar Hertzsprung
Ejnar Hertzsprung (right) and Karl Schwarzschild in professorial gowns in front of the Göttingen Observatory building (1909).
Born	(1873-10-08)8 October 1873 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	21 October 1967(1967-10-21) (aged 94) Roskilde, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Fields	Chemistry, Astronomy
Institutions	Leiden Observatory
Alma mater	Copenhagen Polytechnic
Known for	Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
Notable awards	Bruce Medal 1937

Ejnar Hertzsprung (Danish pronunciation: [ɑjnɐ ˈhæɐ̯dsbʁɔŋ], 8 October 1873 – 21 October 1967) was a Danish chemist and astronomer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the period 1911–1913, together with Henry Norris Russell, he developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

In 1913 he determined the distances to several Cepheid variable stars by statisticalparallax, and was thus able to calibrate the relationship discovered by Henrietta Leavitt between Cepheid period and luminosity. In this determination he made a mistake, possibly a slip of the pen, putting the stars 10 times too close. He used this relationship to estimate the distance to the Small Magellanic Cloud. From 1919 to 1946 Hertzsprung worked at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, from 1937 as director. Among his graduate students at Leiden was Gerard Kuiper.

Perhaps his greatest contribution to astronomy was the development of a classification system for stars to divide them by spectral type, stage in their development, and luminosity. The so-called "Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram" has been used ever since as a classification system to explain stellar types and stellar evolution. He also discovered two asteroids, one of which is 1627 Ivar, an Amor asteroid.

His wife Henrietta (1881–1956) was a daughter of the Dutch astronomer Jacobus Kapteyn. Hertzsprung died in Roskilde in 1967. The asteroid 1693 Hertzsprung was named in his honour.