Ira Sprague Bowen
Encyclopedia
Ira Sprague Bowen was an American astronomer
. In 1927 he discovered that nebulium
was not really a chemical element
but instead doubly ionized oxygen
.
in 1898. Due to frequent moves of his family he was home shooled until the death of his father in 1908. From that point on he attended the Houghton College
where his mother worked as teacher. After graduation from high school in 1915 Bowen stayed at the junior college of Houghton College and later joined Oberlin College
from which he graduated in 1919. During the time at Oberlin College Bowen did some research on the properties of steel together with the scientist Robert Hadfield
. The results were published in 1921.
Bowen started studying physics at the University of Chicago
in fall 1919. Already in 1921 Bowen took a position in the research group of Robert Andrews Millikan. He was assigned to do ultraviolet spectroscopy of chemical elements. Millikan was persuaded by George Ellery Hale
to move to the California Institute of Technology
in 1921 and Bowen moved with him. The contact with Hale enabled Bowen also to work at the Mount Wilson Observatory
and the Palomar Observatory
. Bowen gave lectures on general physics at Caltech and did research on cosmic rays and followed his studies on UV spectroscopy. He also did calculations on spectra for the light elements of the periodic table. With that data and the inspiration from a chapter on gaseous nebula and the emission of radiation at low density in the book Astronomy by Henry Norris Russell
, Raymond Smith Dugan
and John Quincy Stewart
he achieved his best known discovery.
The green emission lines of the Cat's Eye Nebula
at 4959 and 5007 Ångström
were discovered by William Huggins
in 1864. Because no known element was showing these emission lines in the experiment it was concluded in the late 1890s that a new element was responsible for that lines, it was called nebulium
. Bowen was able to calculate the forbidden transitions of doubly ionized oxygen
to be exactly where the lines had been found. The low probability for collisions in the nebula made it impossible for the oxygen to get from the excited stated to the ground state and so the forbidden transitions were the main path for the relaxation. Bowen published his findings in 1927 and concluded that nebulium was not really a chemical element
.
Bowen was elected to the National Academie of Science in 1936.
Before his retirement in 1964 and even afterwards Bowen was involved in the improvement of the optical design of several large optical instruments, for example the 100 inch Irenee duPont at the Las Campanas Observatory
.
Named after him
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. In 1927 he discovered that nebulium
Nebulium
Nebulium was a proposed element found in a nebula by William Huggins in 1864. The strong green emission lines of the Cat's Eye Nebula, discovered using spectroscopy, led to the postulation that an as yet unknown element was responsible for this emission...
was not really a chemical element
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
but instead doubly ionized oxygen
Doubly ionized oxygen
Doubly ionized oxygen is a forbidden line of the ion O2+. It is significant in that it emits light in the green part of the spectrum primarily at the wavelength 500.7 nanometres and secondarily at 495.9 nm. Concentrated levels of [O III] are found in diffuse and planetary nebulae...
.
Life and work
Bowen was born in Seneca Falls, New YorkSeneca Falls (town), New York
Seneca Falls is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 9,347 at the 2000 census.The Town of Seneca Falls contains a village also called Seneca Falls...
in 1898. Due to frequent moves of his family he was home shooled until the death of his father in 1908. From that point on he attended the Houghton College
Houghton College
Houghton College is a Christian liberal arts college affiliated with the Wesleyan Church. The college is a member of both the Christian College Consortium and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...
where his mother worked as teacher. After graduation from high school in 1915 Bowen stayed at the junior college of Houghton College and later joined Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
from which he graduated in 1919. During the time at Oberlin College Bowen did some research on the properties of steel together with the scientist Robert Hadfield
Robert Hadfield
Sir Robert Abbott Hadfield, 1st Baronet FRS was an English metallurgist, noted for his 1882 discovery of manganese steel, one of the first steel alloys...
. The results were published in 1921.
Bowen started studying physics at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in fall 1919. Already in 1921 Bowen took a position in the research group of Robert Andrews Millikan. He was assigned to do ultraviolet spectroscopy of chemical elements. Millikan was persuaded by George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer.-Biography:Hale was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, , and at Berlin . As an undergraduate at MIT, he is known for inventing the spectroheliograph, with which he made his discovery of...
to move to the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
in 1921 and Bowen moved with him. The contact with Hale enabled Bowen also to work at the Mount Wilson Observatory
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715 foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles...
and the Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...
. Bowen gave lectures on general physics at Caltech and did research on cosmic rays and followed his studies on UV spectroscopy. He also did calculations on spectra for the light elements of the periodic table. With that data and the inspiration from a chapter on gaseous nebula and the emission of radiation at low density in the book Astronomy by Henry Norris Russell
Henry Norris Russell
Henry Norris Russell was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram . In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he developed Russell–Saunders coupling which is also known as LS coupling.-Biography:Russell was born in 1877 in Oyster Bay, New...
, Raymond Smith Dugan
Raymond Smith Dugan
Raymond Smith Dugan was an American astronomer and a graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts .Dugan obtained his Masters Degree from Amherst College in 1902, and then received his Ph.D...
and John Quincy Stewart
John Quincy Stewart
John Quincy Stewart was an American astrophysicist.He obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1919...
he achieved his best known discovery.
The green emission lines of the Cat's Eye Nebula
Cat's Eye Nebula
The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco. Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets, bubbles and sinewy arc-like features...
at 4959 and 5007 Ångström
Ångström
The angstrom or ångström, is a unit of length equal to 1/10,000,000,000 of a meter . Its symbol is the Swedish letter Å....
were discovered by William Huggins
William Huggins
Sir William Huggins, OM, KCB, FRS was an English amateur astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy.-Biography:...
in 1864. Because no known element was showing these emission lines in the experiment it was concluded in the late 1890s that a new element was responsible for that lines, it was called nebulium
Nebulium
Nebulium was a proposed element found in a nebula by William Huggins in 1864. The strong green emission lines of the Cat's Eye Nebula, discovered using spectroscopy, led to the postulation that an as yet unknown element was responsible for this emission...
. Bowen was able to calculate the forbidden transitions of doubly ionized oxygen
Doubly ionized oxygen
Doubly ionized oxygen is a forbidden line of the ion O2+. It is significant in that it emits light in the green part of the spectrum primarily at the wavelength 500.7 nanometres and secondarily at 495.9 nm. Concentrated levels of [O III] are found in diffuse and planetary nebulae...
to be exactly where the lines had been found. The low probability for collisions in the nebula made it impossible for the oxygen to get from the excited stated to the ground state and so the forbidden transitions were the main path for the relaxation. Bowen published his findings in 1927 and concluded that nebulium was not really a chemical element
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
.
Bowen was elected to the National Academie of Science in 1936.
Before his retirement in 1964 and even afterwards Bowen was involved in the improvement of the optical design of several large optical instruments, for example the 100 inch Irenee duPont at the Las Campanas Observatory
Las Campanas Observatory
Las Campanas Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Carnegie Institution for Science It was established in 1969 and remains the primary observing site of that institution. The headquarters is located in La Serena, Chile and the observatory is in the southern Atacama...
.
Honors
Awards- Henry Draper MedalHenry Draper MedalThe Henry Draper Medal is awarded by the United States National Academy of Sciences "for investigations in astronomical physics". Named after Henry Draper, the medal is awarded with a gift of USD $15,000...
from the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
(1942) - Howard N. Potts Medal (1946)
- Rumford PrizeRumford PrizeFounded in 1796, the Rumford Prize, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States. The prize recognizes contributions by scientists to the fields of heat and light...
of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(1949) - Frederic Ives Medal (1952)
- Bruce MedalBruce MedalThe Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. It is named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patroness of astronomy, and was first awarded in 1898...
(1957) - Henry Norris Russell LectureshipHenry Norris Russell LectureshipThe Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research.-Previous lecturers:This list of lecturers is from the American Astronomical Society's website....
(1964) - Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical SocietyGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society-History:In the early years, more than one medal was often awarded in a year, but by 1833 only one medal was being awarded per year. This caused a problem when Neptune was discovered in 1846, because many felt an award should jointly be made to John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier...
(1966)
Named after him
- The crater BowenBowen (crater)Bowen is a small lunar crater that is located to the southwest of the Montes Haemus, on the edge of a small lunar mare named the Lacus Doloris. It is distinguished only by having a relatively flat floor, rather than being bowl-shaped like most small craters. Bowen was previously designated...
on the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more... - AsteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
3363 Bowen3363 Bowen3363 Bowen is a main-belt asteroid discovered on March 6, 1960 by Goethe Link Observatory at Brooklyn.- External links :*... - Bowen ratioBowen ratioIn meteorology and hydrology, the Bowen ratio is used to describe the type of heat transfer in a water body. Heat transfer can either occur as sensible heat or latent heat...
of turbulent fluxes from a surface