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George Ellery Hale

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For the baseball player, seeGeorge Hale (baseball).For the Kansas City fire chief, seeGeorge C. Hale.
"George E. Hale" redirects here. For the Australian minister of religion, seeGeorge Hale (minister).
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale, c. 1913
Born(1868-06-29)June 29, 1868
Chicago,Illinois, USA
DiedFebruary 21, 1938(1938-02-21)(aged 69)
Pasadena,California, USA
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMIT
Known for
SpouseEvelina Conklin Hale
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
Astrophysics[1]
InstitutionsUniversity of Chicago,Carnegie Institution for Science,Caltech

George Ellery Hale(June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) was an Americanastrophysicist,best known for his discovery of magnetic fields insunspots,and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-leading telescopes; namely, the 40-inchrefracting telescopeatYerkes Observatory,60-inch Hale reflecting telescopeatMount Wilson Observatory,100-inch Hooker reflecting telescopeat Mount Wilson, and the200-inch Hale reflecting telescopeatPalomar Observatory.[2]He played a key role in the foundation of theInternational Union for Cooperation in Solar Researchand theNational Research Council,and in developing theCalifornia Institute of Technologyinto a leading research university.

Early life and education

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George Ellery Hale was born on June 29, 1868, inChicago,Illinois, toWilliam Ellery Haleand Mary Browne.[3]He is descended from Thomas Hale of Watton-on-Stone, Hertfordshire, England, whose son emigrated to America about 1640.[3]His father acquired a considerable fortune manufacturing and installing passenger elevators during the reconstruction of Chicago, which had been destroyed in theGreat Chicago Fireof 1871.[4]The oldest of three children who lived past childhood, George received strong encouragement from his father, who supported the boy's active mind and curiosity, and his mother, who inculcated in him a love of poetry and literature.[5]

He spent his youth fascinated by the books and machinery given to him by his parents—one of his most prized possessions was a small microscope. With his father's encouragement, he built a small shop in their house that turned into a laboratory.[6]The microscope led to his interest in optics. At the age of fourteen, George built his first telescope. His father later replaced it with a second-hand Clark refractor that they mounted on the roof of their Kenwood house.[6]Soon he was photographing the night skies, observing a partial eclipse of the Sun, and drawing sunspots.

As an avid reader with a strong interest in the budding field of astrophysics, Hale was drawn to the writings ofWilliam Huggins,Norman Lockyer,andErnest Rutherford.[7]His fascination with science, however, did not preclude interests more typical of a normal boy, such as fishing, boating, swimming, skating, tennis, and bicycling.[7]He was an enthusiastic reader of the stories ofJules Verne—particularly drawn to the tales of adventure set in the mountains of California.[7]Hale spent summers at his grandmother's house in the old New England village of Madison, Connecticut, where he met his future wife, Evelina Conklin.[8]

After graduating from Oakland Public School in Chicago, Hale attended the Allen Academy, where he studied chemistry, physics, and astronomy.[9]He supplemented his practical home experience by attending a course in shop-work at the Chicago Manual Training School.[9]During these years, Hale developed a knowledge of the principles of architecture and city planning with the help of his father's friend, well-known architectDaniel Burnham.Upon Burnham's advice and encouragement, Hale decided at the age of seventeen to continue his education at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT).[9]

Hale was educated atMIT,at theHarvard College Observatory,(1889–90), and inBerlin(1893–94) where he was a PhD student but never finished his degree. At the time he already had an appointment as a professor at the recently established University of Chicago. As an undergraduate at MIT, he is known for inventing thespectroheliograph,with which he made his discovery of solarvortices.[10]

Research

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Hale at the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research atMount Wilson Observatory,1910

In 1890, he began research at theKenwood Astrophysical Observatory,which Hale's father had built for him; he was professor ofastrophysicsatBeloit College(1891–93); associate professor at theUniversity of Chicagountil 1897, and full professor (1897–1905). He was coeditor ofAstronomy and Astrophysics,1892–95, and after 1895 editor of theAstrophysical Journal.He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known asSociety for Science & the Public,from 1921 to 1923.

In 1908, he used theZeeman effectwith a modified spectroheliograph to establish thatsunspotswere magnetic.[10]Subsequent work demonstrated a strong tendency for east-west alignment of magnetic polarities in sunspots, with mirror symmetry across the solar equator; and that the polarity in each hemisphere switched orientation from one sunspot cycle to the next.[11]This systematic property of sunspot magnetic fields is now commonly referred to as the "Hale–Nicholson law,"[12]or in many cases simply "Hale's law."

Hale spent a large portion of his career trying to find a way to image the solar corona without the benefit of a total solar eclipse, but this was not achieved until the work ofBernard Lyot. In October 1913, Hale received a letter fromAlbert Einstein,asking whether certain astronomical observations could be done that would test Einstein's hypothesis concerning the effects of gravity on light. Hale replied in November, saying that such observations could be done only during atotal eclipse of the Sun.[13]

Founding and organizing of institutions

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Hale was a driven individual, who worked to found a number of significant astronomical observatories, includingYerkes Observatory,Mount Wilson Observatory,Palomar Observatory,and theHale Solar Laboratory.At Mount Wilson, he hired and encouragedHarlow ShapleyandEdwin Hubbletoward some of the most significant discoveries of the time. He was a prolific organizer who helped create a number of astronomical institutions, societies and journals. Hale also played a central role in developing theCalifornia Institute of Technologyinto a leading research university. After retiring as director at Mount Wilson, he built the Hale Solar Laboratory inPasadena, California,as his office and workshop, pursuing his interest in thesun.[14][15]

From early youth, Hale had been internationally oriented, travelling widely throughout Europe in his younger years. Having long realized the value of an international organization to coordinate scientific research, he pursued, as chairman of a committee of theNational Academy of Sciencesof the US, the formation of an international organization for solar research. The society's inaugural meeting was held at theSt. Louis Expositionof 1904 and included representatives from 16 national scientific societies, but notably not from thePrussian Academy of Sciences,which had declined the invitation. Instead, German delegates from theGerman Physical Societywere present.[16]

The delegates proceeded to appoint a committee that was to create theInternational Union for Cooperation in Solar Researchas a permanent international scientific organization; the new union had its first constituted meeting atOxfordin England a year later. Further meetings were held inParisin 1907 and atMount Wilsonin 1910, where the purview of the Union was enlarged to includestellarresearch, in keeping with Hale's emphasis on the Sun as just one among the many other stars. Shortly after the last meeting in Bonn in 1913,World War Ibroke out, which effectively put an end to the Union's activities. Work continued after the 1919 founding of theInternational Astronomical Union.[16]

During the war, Hale played a key role in founding theNational Research Councilto support the government in using science for its policy aims, in particular to further its military ends.[16]In 1922, he was appointed at theLeague of Nations'Committee on Intellectual Cooperationbut had to resign after a few months because of health problems.[17]He was replaced by his colleagueRobert Andrew Millikan.

Personal life

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Hale suffered fromneurologicalandpsychologicalproblems, includinginsomnia,frequent headaches, and depression. The often-repeated myth ofschizophrenia,[18]alleging he claimed to have regular visits from anelfwho acted as his advisor, arose from a misunderstanding by one of his biographers.[19]He occasionally took time off to spend a few months at a sanatorium in Maine. These problems forced him to resign as director of Mount Wilson.[18]He died at the Las Encinas Sanitarium in Pasadena in 1938.[20]

Honors and awards

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Legacy

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A bust of George Ellery Hale at Palomar Observatory
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Fox Mulderuses the pseudonym "George E. Hale" on several occasions in the TV seriesThe X-Files,most notable in Season 2, Episode 1 "Little Green Men", and Season 2, Episode 4 "Sleepless".

Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brulehas an episode on "space" which references a real fact about Hale in passing.

References

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Notes
  1. ^"George Ellery Hale (1868–1938)".Retrieved1 October2015.
  2. ^Steele, Diana (March 20, 1997)."Yerkes Observatory: A century of stellar science".The University of Chicago Chronicle.16(13).RetrievedOctober 29,2015.
  3. ^abAdams 1939, p. 181.
  4. ^Adams 1939, p. 182.
  5. ^Adams 1939, pp. 182–83.
  6. ^abAdams 1939, p. 183.
  7. ^abcAdams 1939, p. 184.
  8. ^Adams 1939, pp. 184–85.
  9. ^abcAdams 1939, p. 185.
  10. ^abHale, G. E. (1908)."On the Probable Existence of a Magnetic Field in Sun-Spots".The Astrophysical Journal.28:315.Bibcode:1908ApJ....28..315H.doi:10.1086/141602.
  11. ^Hale, G. E.; Ellerman, F.; Nicholson, S. B.; Joy, A. H. (1919)."The Magnetic Polarity of Sun-Spots".The Astrophysical Journal.49:153.Bibcode:1919ApJ....49..153H.doi:10.1086/142452.
  12. ^Astrophysics of the sun,Harold Zirin, Cambridge University Press, 1988, p.307;http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988assu.book.....Z
  13. ^http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/images/einstein/ear01/view/1/72-296_000012024.pdf
  14. ^"George Ellery Hale".Mount Wilson Observatory Association. Archived fromthe originalon 2009-09-08.Retrieved2010-04-11.
  15. ^"Hale Solar Laboratory".Astronomy and Astrophysics.U.S.National Park Service.Retrieved2015-05-12.
  16. ^abcWalter S. Adams: "The History of the International Astronomical Union" inPublications of the Astronomical Society of the PacificBd. 61 (1949), S. 5-12.ADS Entry
  17. ^Grandjean, Martin (2018).Les réseaux de la coopération intellectuelle. La Société des Nations comme actrice des échanges scientifiques et culturels dans l'entre-deux-guerres[The Networks of Intellectual Cooperation. The League of Nations as an Actor of the Scientific and Cultural Exchanges in the Inter-War Period] (in French). Lausanne: Université de Lausanne.
  18. ^abHale, George Ellery (1868–1938) – from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography.Scienceworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-25.
  19. ^Hale's "Little Elf": The Mental Breakdowns of George Ellery Hale,Sheehan, W. & Osterbrock, D. E.,Journal for the History of Astronomy,xxxi (2000), p.93;http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2000JHA....31...93S
  20. ^"Dr. George E. Hale, Astronomer, Dead".The New York Times.Retrieved2019-05-17.
  21. ^abcdefghijklmnop"The Case File: George Ellery Hale".The Franklin Institute. Archived fromthe originalon December 30, 2008.RetrievedMarch 1,2014.
  22. ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.Retrieved2021-05-19.
  23. ^"Henry Draper Medal".National Academy of Sciences. Archived fromthe originalon January 26, 2013.Retrieved19 February2011.
  24. ^S. A. F (1979). "Prix et Médailles décernés par la Société depuis sa fondation".L'Astronomie.93:543.Bibcode:1979LAstr..93..543S.
  25. ^"The Arthur Noble Medal, City of Pasadena".The Caltech Archives. 1926. Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-08.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
  26. ^Newall, pp. 522–26.
  27. ^"George Ellery Hale".27 October 2016.
  28. ^Peter Browning (2011).Sierra Nevada Place Names: From Abbot to Zumwalt.Great West Books. p. 103.ISBN9780944220238.
  29. ^Goldin, Greg (2015-05-03)."Home of the Stars: A monument to the universe lies hidden behind a hedge in Pasadena".The California Sunday Magazine.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-05-13.
Bibliography
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