Arthur Bambridge Wyse (June 25, 1909 – June 8, 1942) was an American astronomer. He was killed in a U.S. Navy airship accident during World War II.

Biography

Wyse was born in Blairstown, Iowa, the son of Charles M. Wyse and Celia J. Bambridge. His father was a Prebyterian minister. At the age of sixteen, he matriculated to the private liberal arts College of Wooster in Ohio. While there, he received the John H. Moreland prize for his work in Greek studies, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. At Wooster, Wyse met his future wife, Marylyn Crandell. He graduated in 1929 with an A.B. ''cum laude'', then went work as an accountant for the

Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Englan ...

for a year. Wyse entered graduate school at the University of Michigan, where he decided on Astronomy as his profession. He received his A.M. in 1931 with studies in astronomy, physics, and mathematics. In August 1931, Wyse transferred to the University of California, Berkeley to study astrophysics. He received a Lick Observatory fellowship in 1932 and spent two years at the mountain peak site researching the spectra of eclipsing binary star systems. His Ph.D. was conferred in May 1934, with a doctoral thesis titled, ''A Study of the Spectra of Eclipsing Binaries''. The same year, he was married to Marylyn Crandell, and the couple would have two sons, Kenneth and Gordon. Wyse was awarded a Martin Kellogg Fellowship for post-graduate studies by

Rochester University Rochester University (formerly Rochester College) is a private Christian college in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was founded by members of the Churches of Christ in 1959. Rochester University is primarily undergraduate (though it offers some ...

. In 1935, the newly appointed director of

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...

William Hammond Wright William Hammond Wright (November 4, 1871 – May 16, 1959) was an American astronomer and the director of the Lick Observatory from 1935 until 1942. Wright was born in San Francisco. After graduating in 1893 from the University of California ...

, promoted Wyse and fellow Lick observer assistant

Nicholas U. Mayall Nicholas Ulrich Mayall (May 9, 1906 – January 5, 1993) was an American observational astronomer. After obtaining his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, Mayall worked at the Lick Observatory, where he remained from 1934 to 19 ...

to the staff as assistant astronomers. The two men were good friends, and they collaborated on several papers regarding

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

measurements of H II regions in the nearby M31 and M33 spiral galaxies. Wyse performed spectroscopic studies of novae in 1934–1937, including Nova Herculis 1934 and

Nova Aquilae 1918 V603 Aquilae (or Nova Aquilae 1918) was a bright nova first observed (from Earth) in the constellation Aquila in 1918. It was the brightest "new star" to appear in the sky since Kepler's Supernova in 1604. Like all novae, it is a binary ...

. In 1938, he collaborated with

Ira S. Bowen Ira Sprague Bowen (December 21, 1898 – February 6, 1973) was an American physicist and astronomer. In 1927 he discovered that nebulium was not really a chemical element but instead doubly ionized oxygen. Life and work Bowen was born in Sen ...

to study the spectra of gaseous nebulae. In addition to observational research, Wyse investigated limb darkening of eclipsing variables. In 1941, a college dean at the University of Pittsburgh produced a list of candidates to direct the Allegheny Observatory. He sent the list to

W. H. Wright W. may refer to: * SoHo (Australian TV channel) (previously W.), an Australian pay television channel * ''W.'' (film), a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of George W. Bush * "W.", the fifth track from Codeine's 1992 EP ''Bar ...

, asking for comments. The list included Wyse's name, and Wright placed him at the top. Wyse was offered the position, but he declined after a period of negotiations. Prior to the US entry into World War II, both Wyse and Mayall had applied for Naval Reserve commissions. In December, 1941 he was granted a leave of absence when the National Defense Research Committee called him up for service. He was assigned to the US Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory in San Diego, California. On June 8, 1942, Wyse was an

OSRD The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1 ...

scientist on board the U.S. Navy airship L-2 operating off the coast of Manasquan, New Jersey. They were working in tandem with airship G-1 conducting scientific tests of underwater flares for the detection of German submarines. At 9 pm, the two airships collided and fell into the ocean. With the exception of one Navy officer, all hands were lost. Wyse was the youngest scientist among the crew; he was survived by his wife and two sons. On March 24, 1944, President F. D. Roosevelt signed a bill that provided government compensation to the family of Wyse and the other OSRD scientists lost in the accident. Prior to his death, everybody who knew Wyse at the Lick Observatory had been expecting that he would one day become the director. Instead, the task passed to Joseph H. Moore, who succeeded Wright in 1942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyse, Arthur Bambridge 1909 births 1942 deaths University of Michigan alumni College of Wooster alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni 20th-century American astronomers American civilians killed in World War II