Walter Sydney Adams

He was born in Antioch , Syria to missionary parents, and was brought to the U.S. in 1885 . He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1898 , then continued his education in Germany . After returning to the US, he began a career in Astronomy that culminated
when he became director of the Mount Wilson Observatory .

His primary interest was the study of Stellar Spectra . He worked on solar Spectroscopy and co-discovered a relationship between the relative intensities of certain Spectral Line s and the Absolute Magnitude of a star. He was able to demonstrate that spectra could be used to determine whether a star was a giant or a dwarf. In 1915 he began a study of the companion of Sirius and found that despite a size only slightly larger than the Earth , the surface of the star was
brighter per unit area than the Sun and it was about as massive. Such a star later came to be known as a White Dwarf .

Walter Sydney Adams died in Pasadena, California .

HONORS

Awards