Sidney C. Wolff

For the American physician, seeSidney M. Wolfe.

Sidney C. Wolff
Born	Sidney Carne 1941 Sioux City, Iowa
Education	BS Astronomy (1962), PhD Astronomy (1966)
Alma mater	Carleton College; University of California, Berkeley
Occupation(s)	Astrophysicist, researcher, public educator, author
Scientific career
Thesis	A Spectroscopic and Photometric Study of the Peculiar A-Stars(1966)
Doctoral advisor	George Preston

Sidney Carne Wolff(born 1941) is an Americanastrophysicist,researcher, public educator, and author. She is the first woman in the United States to head a major observatory, and she provided significant contributions to the construction of six telescopes.Wolff served as Director of theKitt Peak National Observatory(KPNO) and theNational Optical Astronomy Observatory(NOAO).She is a member of theInternational Astronomical Union's Division G: Stars and Stellar Physics.

Early life

Sidney Carne was born inSioux City, Iowain 1941 and is the oldest child of George Albert Carne and Ethel (Smith) Carne.Due to her father's occupational promotions, she transferred schools often and went to five grade schools, becoming interested inastronomyin the third grade after a spelling lesson with astronomical words. Wolff also attended three high schools: one inSt. Louis, Missouri,and Bensonville and York High School, both in the suburbs ofChicago, Illinois.Despite her transitions, her father encouraged her to take several math courses in high school which allowed her to study astronomy in college.

After graduating high school at the age of 17, she went on to study atCarleton College,a private liberal arts college inNorthfield, Minnesota.Though she considered a major in Latin, Wolff received a bachelor's degree in astronomy in 1962,and married Richard James Wolff that August.

Career

PhD and postdoctoral research

The CFH telescope was built due to image clarity on the mountain and is the first telescope Wolff helped develop.

After graduating, Wolff went on to earn her PhD in astronomy at theUniversity of California at Berkeleyin 1966.While at Berkeley, she conducted research onbinary starswith astronomerGeorge Wallerstein.She also worked on a research project with her primary adviser and astronomer, George Preston, for her thesis which focused on stellar astronomy and A stars, a relatively new subject for astronomers at the time. Her thesis is titledA Spectroscopic and Photometric Study of the Peculiar A-Stars.After earning her PhD, Wolff continued researching A stars and the nature of their magnetic fields and variability during her postdoctoral research which she began by commuting between theLick Observatoryat theUniversity of California at Santa Cruzand Berkeley.

She soon accepted a job opportunity for a new program and joined the Institute for Astronomy at theUniversity of Hawaiiwhere she worked as an assistant and associate astronomer from 1971 to 1976. While inHawaii,Wolff spent 17 years contributing to the conversion ofMauna Keainto one of the world's top sites for astronomy. At an elevation of 14,000 feet (4,300 m), Mauna Kea is one of the clearest image sites due to its height and dryness. This changed ground-based astronomy and gained the attention of other astronomical organizations, eventually leading to the installation of theCanada-France-Hawaii telescope.Wolff also contributed to the construction of theSOAR4.1-meter telescope at theCerro Tololo Inter-American ObservatorynearLa Serena, Chile.

Leadership

The WIYN observatory on Kitt Peak is renowned and partly developed by Wolff.

Wolff's leadership experience began in 1976, when she began serving as the associate director of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii until 1983 and later became acting director until 1984.Later that year, Wolff left Hawaii as she was named Director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) inTucson, Arizonauntil 1987. During her time at Kitt Peak, she contributed to the development of the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope.

• 
  Panorama taken of Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona where Wolff researched and worked on the development of telescopes.

In the spring of 1987, Wolff was named the Director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories until 2001. This made her the first woman in American history to lead a major observatory and the longest serving director of NOAO.In 1985 and 1986, Wolff became the second woman to hold the position of President of theAstronomical Society of the Pacificand again as President of theAmerican Astronomical Societyin 1992.

From 1992 to 1994, Wolff served as the first Director of theGemini Projectand played a major role in the proposal of the Gemini 8-Meter Telescopes Project.

Membership

Wolff has been an active member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) since the 1980s and is a current member of Division G Stars and Stellar Physics. The division consists of over 3,000 members and is focused on understanding star masses, how they evolve, and their properties by using research techniques such as observation, theory, measurements, and predictions about stars and stellar physics.Wolff was also a former Organizing Committee Member of Commission 29 Stellar Spectra from 1982 to 1988 and a member of Division IV stars until 2012. Until 2015, Wolff was also a member of Commission 29 Stellar Spectra and Commission 36 Theory of Stellar Atmospheres.In addition to being a member of the IAU, Wolff is also a member of theRoyal Astronomical Societyand the American Astronomical Society.

Publications

Wolff in September 1984

In 1987, Wolff began writing college introductory astronomy textbooks with astronomerDavid Morrisonand later addedAndrew Fraknoi,former Executive Officer of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, to their team. Together, the three scholars produced "Voyages through the Universe," later also issued in two volumes asVoyages to the Stars and GalaxiesandVoyages to the Planets.In 2017, the three of them produced a free, on-line introductory textbook "Astronomy" for the non-profit OpenStax project. Other books authored by Wolff includeThe Boundless Universe: Astronomy in the New Age of DiscoveryandThe A-Type Stars – Problems and Perspectives(1983).

In 2002, Wolff co-founded theAstronomy Education Review,the first online peer-reviewed astronomy journal for researchers and educators. The journal was published through the American Astronomical Society and was edited by Wolff and fellow astronomerAndrew Fraknoi.Wolff has also co-authored several proposals including a four volume proposal for the Gemini 8-Meter Telescope which took two years to complete.

Awards and recognition

In 2006, the American Astronomy Society awarded Wolff with the 2006 Education Prize for her consistent dedication to astronomy and space sciences and leadership skills.

In 2020 she was elected a Legacy Fellow of theAmerican Astronomical Society.