Picture of the moon. Photo by Matt Bero on Unsplash 

Top 10 Facts about Dirk Brouwer


 

Dirk Brouwer was a Dutch-born U.S. astronomer and geophysicist known for his achievements in celestial mechanics, especially for his pioneering application of high-speed digital computers.

1. He Served His Entire Career At The Yale University

After leaving the University of Leiden, Brouwer served as a faculty member at Yale University from 1928 until his death. He rose through the ranks to become both professor of astronomy and director of the Yale Observatory in 1941. His area of study at Yale were changes in the Earth’s rotation, later tackling orbital problems.

Along with W.J. Eckert, he developed a method of calculating orbit corrections (1937) that has been widely accepted, and, with Eckert and G.M. Clemence (1951), Brouwer was the first to use a computer to calculate planetary positions accurately. Among his other notable contributions, Brouwer formulated the term ephemeris time to describe time measurement unaffected by variation in the rate of the Earth’s rotation.

2. He Is Associated With Several Inventions

As a Dutch American astronomer, he is best known for making significant contributions to the understanding of celestial mechanics. Brouwer was also a pioneer in the use of (then) high-speed digital computers for solving problems in celestial mechanics, many of which found practical application with the launching of artificial satellites in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

For his contributions to astronomy, Brouwer was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1955. Other work led to mathematical techniques for precisely determining the positions of planets, setting the stage for their later exploration.

3. He Is Best Known For His Works in Celestial Machines

Dirk Brouwer was an astronomer whose specialty was celestial mechanics. In the astronomy profession he was called a celestial mechanician. He studied astronomy at the University of Leiden and did his doctoral dissertation on data collected and observations made of the four large satellites of Jupiter. The observations and data were collected at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa, between 1908 and 1925.

His major advisor was professor de Sitter who was quite prominent in the field of astronomy, and whose specialty was celestial mechanics. Brouwer received his Ph. D. degree in astronomy from the University of Leiden in 1927.

Following the completion of his doctoral work, Brouwer joined the faculty of Yale University, eventually rising to Professor of Astronomy, and worked with Professor Ernest Brown, who had earned a Gold Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society for his work in celestial mechanics. Brouwer continued his work on celestial mechanics and along the way wrote a widely used textbook on celestial mechanics, entitled, “Methods of Celestial Mechanics”.

4. He Was The Editor Of The “Astronomical Journal”

From 1941 to 1966, Brouwer was the editor of the “Astronomical Journal”. He apparently made many contributions to the field of celestial mechanics because the Royal Astronomical Society awarded him the Gold Medal in 1951. The Society announced, upon the bestowal of the medal, that Brouwer was awarded the medal for his many outstanding contributions to celestial mechanics.

There is not much information available on what exactly were Brouwer’s contributions, but apparently one of the major contributions was made while Brouwer was still a student at the University of Leiden. Brouwer then was able to determine that the mass of Titan, a moon of Saturn, could be determined from its influence on other Saturnian moons.

5. He Was A Pioneer In Introducing Computers To Astronomy Computation

He also developed general methods for finding orbits and computing errors and then applying these methods to comets, asteroids, and planets. All of this clearly required an enormous amount of computation, an activity which must have been nightmarish at best during the pre-computer period, when most of his initial work was done.

He therefore, was one of the first to introduce computers to the making of these astronomy computations. During the early periods of the artificial satellites, Brouwer computed their orbits and from the data collected, was able to develop a better understanding and knowledge of the figure of planet earth.

6. He Was Awarded The Prestigious Bruce Medal Posthumously

In 1966, Brouwer was awarded the prestigious Bruce Medal posthumously. This is one of the more prestigious medals in Astronomy. It is awarded by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific [ASP], which was founded in San Francisco in 1889, in order to advance the science and knowledge of astronomy. Since 1898 the ASP has awarded the Bruce Medal annually to the most prestigious astronomer at that time.

7. The Dick Brouwer Award Is Named In His Honor

Brouwer passed away on January 31, 1966, in the year he received the Bruce Medal. In 1978, the American Astronomical Society honored Brouwer posthumously by establishing the Dirk Brouwer Award. The Dirk Brouwer Award is awarded annually by the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society for outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of dynamical astronomy. Many prestigious astronomers in the field of dynamical astronomy have received the award annually since 1978.

The Dirk Brouwer Career Award recognizes annually a major contributor to the field of Dynamical Astronomy, who demonstrates excellence in scientific research, which has had a proven impact and influence in the field, as well as demonstrates excellence in the teaching and training of students and provides outstanding advancement and other support of the field through administration, public service, or engineering achievement.

The awardee is recognized with a $2000 honorarium, a certificate, and the presentation of an award lecture.

8. He Was An Inspiring Leader In Both Academics And Research

. Dirk Brouwer was an inspiring leader in the field of celestial mechanics during a period that saw a revival and flowering of that discipline, from its purely academic and esoteric role to one of widespread development and application in human exploration of space. He was successful as a researcher, as a teacher, and as an administrator. He always strove to make the growth of his subject truly international. The Space Flight Mechanics Committee selects the recipient of this award

9. He Is Also Remembered For Two Other Discoveries

Brouwer is remembered for two other astronomical discoveries during his lifetime career in astronomy. They are the “Brouwer Crater on the moon”, and the asteroid named “Asteroid 1746 Brouwer”.

10. He Served At The U.S National Academy Of Sciences

 Brouwer was elected and had an opportunity to serve at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1951.