Joel Stebbins
| Joel Stebbins | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 30, 1878 Omaha, Nebraska |
| Died | March 16, 1966 (aged 87) Palo Alto, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | astronomy |
| Institutions | University of Illinois and University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Doctoral advisor | William Wallace Campbell |
Joel Stebbins (July 30, 1878 – March 16, 1966) was an American astronomer who pioneered photoelectric photometry in astronomy. He was director of the University of Illinois Observatory from 1903 to 1922 where he performed innovative work with the selenium cell. In 1922 he became director of the Washburn Observatory at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he remained until 1948. After 1948, Stebbins continued his research at Lick Observatory until his final retirement in 1958.
Stebbins brought photoelectric photometry from its infancy in the early 1900s to a mature technique by the 1950s, when it succeeded photography as the primary method of photometry. He used the new technique to investigate eclipsing binaries, the reddening of starlight by interstellar dust, colors of galaxies, and variable stars.
Joel Stebbins was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 30, 1878, the son of Charles Stebbins, an office worker at the Union Pacific Railroad and his wife Sara Ann née Stubbs. Stebbins had two sisters, Eunice and Millicent. He attended elementary and high school in Omaha, before entering the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1896. He received his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in 1899, and remained for a year as a graduate student before leaving for the University of Wisconsin, where he studied astronomy at the Washburn Observatory under .
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