Klaas Sjoerds de Boer (born 1941 in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

) is a Dutch astronomer and astrophysicist as well as Professor at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

. His research mainly consisted of using data obtained with satellites and from Earth bound telescopes.

Education

De Boer studied astronomy and physics at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

and obtained his PhD there along with Stuart Pottasch on ''Interstellar Absorption Lines in the Ultraviolet''.

Research and teaching career

From 1974 to 1977 he was at the Institute for Space Research at the University of Groningen. From 1978 to 1981 he was a research associate at the Astronomy Department of the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

(USA) in Madison. Between 1981 and 1985 he was postdoc at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

and worked in 1985 for the University of Groningen in the collaborative project of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of the observatory on La Palma, being based at

Royal Greenwich Observatory The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in G ...

Herstmonceux Herstmonceux ( , ; ) is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, which includes Herstmonceux Castle. The Herstmonceux Medieval Festival is held annually in August. History The name comes from Anglo-Saxon ...

. Research periods brought him to the Astronomy Department of the

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

(USA) und and the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

in Christchurch (New Zealand). He became 1986 full Professor of Astronomie at the Sternwarte of the University of Bonn, successor of Hans Schmidt. Probing halo and intergalactic Gas using M3 SN1987A SN1993J

Probing halo and intergalactic Gas using M3 SN1987A SN1993J

Main research areas see: Interstellar Gas, Stars of the horizontal branch, Kinematics in the Milky Way, Structure of the Magellanic Clouds and Dwarf Galaxies, all areas with as guiding principle ‘’investigation of the three-dimensional Structure of the local Universe’’. He authored or co-authored over 250 publications, half in refereed journals. He organised conferences and was editor of proceedings and published books. In addition, he wrote over 25 popular articles and some 30 essays for the internet.

Committees

De Boer was Member and chairman of several committees, among them

International Ultraviolet Explorer International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE or Explorer 57, formerly SAS-D), was the first space observatory primarily designed to take ultraviolet (UV) electromagnetic spectrum. The satellite was a collaborative project between NASA, the United K ...

Programme Committee of the ESA (1986–1994), of the Gutachterausschusses Verbundforschung Astronomie und Astrophysik of the DLR (1991–1993 and 1995–2001), the Science Advisory Group of Gaia-Project (1998–2000)The Gaia Science Team
/ref> and of the Board of Directors of the international journal

Astronomy & Astrophysics ''Astronomy & Astrophysics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering theoretical, observational, and instrumental astronomy and astrophysics. The journal is run by a Board of Directors representing 27 sponsoring countries plus a re ...

(2001–2011). He worked with his colleagues in Bonn toward a merger, in 2005, of the ''Sternwarte'' sich 2006 with ''Radioastronomischen Institut'' and the ''Institut für Astrophysik und extraterrestrische Forschung'' to form the Argelander Institute for Astronomy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Boer, Klaas Dutch astronomers Dutch astrophysicists 1941 births Living people Scientists from Groningen (city) University of Groningen alumni Academic staff of the University of Bonn Dutch expatriates in Germany