Ira Sprague Bowen
| Ira Sprague Bowen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 21, 1898 Seneca Falls, New York, United States |
| Died | February 6, 1973 (aged 74) |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | astronomy |
| Institutions |
Mount Wilson Observatory Palomar Observatory |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Nebulium |
| Notable awards |
Henry Draper Medal (1942) Bruce Medal (1957) |
Ira Sprague Bowen (December 21, 1898 – February 6, 1973) was an American physicist and astronomer. In 1927 he discovered that nebulium was not really a chemical element but instead doubly ionized oxygen.
Bowen was born in Seneca Falls, New York in 1898 to Philinda Sprague and James Bowen. Due to frequent moves of his family he was home schooled until the death of his father in 1908. From that point on he attended the Houghton College where his mother worked as teacher. After graduation from high school in 1915 Bowen stayed at the junior college of Houghton College and later joined Oberlin College from which he graduated in 1919. During the time at Oberlin College Bowen did some research on the properties of steel together with the scientist Robert Hadfield. The results were published in 1921.
Bowen started studying physics at the University of Chicago in fall 1919. Already in 1921 Bowen took a position in the research group of Robert Andrews Millikan. He was assigned to do ultraviolet spectroscopy of chemical elements. Millikan was persuaded by George Ellery Hale to move to the California Institute of Technology in 1921 and Bowen moved with him. The contact with Hale enabled Bowen also to work at the Mount Wilson Observatory and the Palomar Observatory. Bowen gave lectures on general physics at Caltech and did research on cosmic rays and followed his studies on UV spectroscopy. He also did calculations on spectra for the light elements of the periodic table. With that data and the inspiration from a chapter on gaseous nebula and the emission of radiation at low density in the book Astronomy by Henry Norris Russell, Raymond Smith Dugan and John Quincy Stewart he achieved his best known discovery.
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