Dr. Don VandenBerg is Professor Emeritus of
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
(Ph.D.
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
) at the department of physics and astronomy at the
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. He is internationally acclaimed for his work on modelling stars of different size and composition.
Using basic input physics, such as nuclear reaction rates and opacities, VandenBerg uses computer models to help understand the structure and evolution of stars. These models, which are tightly constrained by observations, provide insight into
stellar population
During 1944, Walter Baade categorized groups of stars within the Milky Way into stellar populations.
In the abstract of the article by Baade, he recognizes that Jan Oort originally conceived this type of classification in 1926:
Baade noticed t ...
s and will ultimately be used to synthesize the stellar populations of distant galaxies.
Vandenberg has the most-cited research papers of any astronomer in Canada.
His
stellar isochrone
In stellar evolution, an isochrone is a curve on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, representing a population of stars of the same age but with different mass.
The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram plots a star's luminosity against its temperature, or ...
s resulting from his models are widely used throughout the world.
References
Notes
Bibliography
Maclean's Magazine''Science Magazine'' articleISI Highly Cited Researchers
20th-century Canadian astronomers
University of Victoria faculty
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century Canadian astronomers
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