Colin Stanley Gum (4 June 1924 – 29 April 1960) was an Australian
astronomer known for his cataloguing of
emission nebulae and the publication of his findings.
Early life and education
Gum was born at Quambi Hospital in
Adelaide,
South Australia, son of Stanley Sturt Edgar Gum and Ivy Olive (née Storr), of
Appila, South Australia
Appila (earlier known as Yarrowie) is a locality in the Mid North of South Australia east of the lower Flinders Ranges. It occupies much of the eastern half of the Hundred of Appila and a strip on the western side of the adjacent Hundred of Tar ...
. His father, a farmer who had served as a private in the
Australian Imperial Force during the
First World War, died before Colin's birth.
Gum received his BSc honours degree from the
University of Adelaide in 1949, going directly to the
Mount Stromlo Observatory, based upon work conducted at which he was awarded his MSc from the University of Adelaide in 1951. He was awarded his PhD in 1955 by the
Australian National University, one of the first recipients of this degree from that institution.
Career
Gum catalogued
emission nebulae in the southern sky at the Mount Stromlo Observatory using wide field photography. Gum published his findings in 1955 in a study entitled ''A study of diffuse southern H-alpha nebulae'' which presented a catalog, now known as the
Gum catalog, of 85 nebulae or nebular complexes. Gum 12, a large area of nebulosity in the direction of the constellations
Puppis
Puppis is a constellation in the southern sky. Puppis, the Latin translation of "poop deck", was originally part of an over-large constellation Argo Navis (the ship of Jason and the Argonauts), which centuries after its initial description, was ...
and
Vela, was later named the
Gum Nebula in his honour. Gum was part of the team, whose number included
Frank John Kerr
Frank John Kerr (8 January 191815 September 2000) was an Australian astronomer and physicist who made contributions to human understanding of the galactic structure of the Milky Way. Born in St Albans to Australian parents, Kerr returned with h ...
and
Gart Westerhout, that determined the precise position of the
neutral hydrogen
The hydrogen line, 21 centimeter line, or H I line is the electromagnetic radiation spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of neutral hydrogen atoms. This electromagnetic radiation has a precise frequency of , w ...
plane in space.
Gum was appointed Head of the Observational Optical Astronomy programme at the
University of Sydney in 1959. He died in a skiing accident at
Zermatt,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
the following year.
Encyclopedia of Australian Science
/ref> He was the brother-in-law of academic Fay Gale
Fay Gale AO (13 June 1932 – 3 May 2008) was an Australian cultural geographer and an emeritus professor. She was an advocate of equal opportunity for women and for Aboriginal people.
Background
She was born Gwendoline Fay Gilding in Balakl ...
. The crater Gum
Gum may refer to:
Types of gum
* Adhesive
* Bubble gum
* Chewing gum
* Gum (botany), sap or other resinous material associated with certain species of the plant kingdom
** Gum arabic, made from the sap of ''Acacia senegal'', an Old World tree s ...
on the Moon is named after him.
References
External links
Short biographyThe Cloud HuntersIllustrated Gum Catalog
20th-century Australian astronomers
1924 births
1960 deaths
Skiing deaths
{{Australia-scientist-stub