Elsa van Dien (12 July 1914 – 15 October 2007) was an astronomer. She received her Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. She married Gale Bruno van Albada who was also an astronomer.

Biography

Elsa van Dien was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

(Surinam) on 12 July 1914. She was the daughter of Rebecca da Silva and Gerrit van Dien. The family moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1923. Elsa began studying astronomy at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

in 1932. She also registered at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

(The Netherlands) in 1935, to have access to its observatory. After her studies, she started to teach at the Gemeentelijk Lyceum in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Za ...

. On 21 November 1940, she was fired for being Jewish. When the deportations started, she went into hiding at reverend J.C.S. Locher in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, and managed to survive the war. She was awarded a scholarship by

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

for September 1939, but due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she could only commence her PhD there in September 1945, also with support of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Her thesis, supervised by

Donald Menzel Donald Howard Menzel (April 11, 1901 – December 14, 1976) was one of the first theoretical astronomers and astrophysicists in the United States. He discovered the physical properties of the solar chromosphere, the chemistry of stars, the atmos ...

, discussed the

Stark effect The Stark effect is the shifting and splitting of spectral lines of atoms and molecules due to the presence of an external electric field. It is the electric-field analogue of the Zeeman effect, where a spectral line is split into several compon ...

in the

Balmer lines The Balmer series, or Balmer lines in atomic physics, is one of a set of six named series describing the spectral line emissions of the hydrogen atom. The Balmer series is calculated using the Balmer formula, an empirical equation discovered b ...

of early type stars. After her PhD, she initially stayed at the

Dominion Astrophysical Observatory The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. The Dominion architect responsible for the building was Edgar Lewis Horwood. The main instrumen ...

in Victoria, Canada. In 1948 she moved back to the Netherlands. In August 1948 she was appointed at the Bosscha Observatory near Bandung, Indonesia. There she met and married Gale Bruno van Albada. She continued her astronomical research until 1958, when the family returned to the Netherlands. She edited the Dutch journal ''Wetenschap en Samenleving'' from 1965 to 1972. In the 1970s and 1980, after the death of Van Albada in 1972, she once again resumed her astronomical research.

References

Sources

Scientific commons entry
* Personal notes by Elsa van Dien (2000 - 2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dien, Elsa van 1914 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Dutch astronomers Dutch women scientists People from Paramaribo Surinamese Jews Dutch Jews Radcliffe College alumni University of Amsterdam alumni Women astronomers Leiden University alumni Dutch expatriates in the United States Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands