James Bailey "Jim" Kaler (December 29, 1938 — November 26, 2022) was an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and

science writer Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...

. After elementary and high-school education in Albany, New York, Kaler earned his

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1960. He attended graduate school at the University of Michigan (1960–61), at

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

(Germany, 1961–62), and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(1962–64), where he also obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

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 ...

1964. His thesis advisor was Lawrence H. Aller.

Professional career

Kaler started his professional career with appointments as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Michigan from 1958 to summer 1960. In 1961 he worked as an astronomer with the

United States Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

. In 1964 he was appointed as an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

of Astronomy by the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, and promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

in 1968 and to a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

position in 1976 (all at University of Illinois). Since 1995 he is Campus Honors Faculty. In 2003 he retired to become

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the University of Illinois. Kaler published over 120 papers. Examples include work on * the chemical composition of

planetary nebula A planetary nebula (PN, plural PNe) is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to ...

e including their electron densities, on * emission lines of planetary and

diffuse nebulae A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming region ...

, on * the development of shells in planetary nebulae, and on *

stellar evolution Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is cons ...

. He has served as president of the board of directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and of the Board of the

Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra The Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra (CUSO) is a professional orchestra located in the Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area in central Illinois, United States. The Orchestra is the Professional Orchestra in Residence at the Krannert Center for the ...

Honors and awards

* He has held

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

s, and has been awarded medals for his work from the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

in Belgium and the

University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. * He gave the Armand Spitz Lecture to the

Great Lakes Planetarium Association Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness ...

and the Margaret Noble Address to the

Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ( ...

. * In 2003 he received the 2003 Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement by the University of Illinois. * In 2008 he received the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

's Education Prize. * He was elected a Legacy Fellow of the

in 2020. * Asteroid 17851 Kaler, discovered by the

Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) was a program run by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Astronomical survey, surveying the sky for near-Earth objects. NEAT was conducted from December 1995 until April 2007, at Ground-based Electro-Optica ...

program in 1998, was named after him, honoring his outreach activities.

Works

Jim Kaler has written for a variety of magazines, and was a consultant for

Time-Life Books Time Life, with sister subsidiaries StarVista Live and Lifestyle Products Group, a holding of Direct Holdings Global LLC, is an American production company and direct marketer conglomerate, that is known for selling books, music, video/DVD, ...

. He has long appeared on

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

television and radio. In addition to two textbooks and three audio courses, he published several books, including * First Magnitude: A Book of the Bright Sky * Stars and their Spectra, * The Ever-Changing Sky, * Extreme Stars (American Association of Publishers Outstanding Professional and Scholarly Title in Physics and Astronomy for 2001), * The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stars, * Stars and Cosmic Clouds, * The Little Book of Stars, * The Hundred Greatest Stars, and * Heaven's Touch (selected Book of the Week by

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

in September 2009). His science www-star database
STARS
has scored more than 4 million visitors since its release in 1988.

References

External links

University of Illinois

University of Illinois
Obituary in the Champaign (Illinois) News Gazette
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaler, James B. 1938 births Living people American astronomers American science writers University of Michigan alumni Fellows of the American Astronomical Society