Jacobus Kapteyn
| Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn | |
|---|---|
Jacobus Kapteyn. Painting by Jan Veth (1921).
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| Born |
19 January 1851 Barneveld |
| Died | 18 June 1922 (aged 71) Amsterdam |
| Nationality | Netherlands |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Alma mater | University of Utrecht |
| Known for | discovery of evidence for galactic rotation |
| Notable awards | Bruce Medal 1913 |
Prof Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn FRS FRSE LLD (19 January 1851 – 18 June 1922) was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way and was the discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation.
Kapteyn was born in Barneveld to Gerrit J. and Elisabeth C. (née Koomans) Kapteyn, and went to the University of Utrecht to study mathematics and physics in 1868. In 1875, after having finished his thesis, he worked for three years at the Leiden Observatory, before becoming the first Professor of Astronomy and Theoretical Mechanics at the University of Groningen, where he remained until his retirement in 1921. In 1888 he became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Between 1896 and 1900, lacking an observatory, he volunteered to measure photographic plates taken by David Gill, who was conducting a photographic survey of southern hemisphere stars at the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. The results of this collaboration was the publication of Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, a catalog listing positions and magnitudes for 454,875 stars in the Southern Hemisphere.
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