Lawrence Hugh Aller (September 24, 1913 – March 16, 2003) was an American
astronomer. He was born in
Tacoma, Washington. He never finished high school and worked for a time as a gold miner. He received his
bachelor's degree from the
University of California, Berkeley in 1936 and went to graduate school at
Harvard
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 ...
in 1937. There he obtained his master's degree in 1938 and his PhD in 1943. From 1943 to 1945 he worked on the
Manhattan Project at the
University of California Radiation Laboratory. He was an assistant professor at
Indiana University from 1945 to 1948 and then an
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 ...
and professor at the
University of Michigan until 1962. He moved to
UCLA in 1962 and helped build its
astronomy department. He was chair of the department from 1963 to 1968.
His work concentrated on the chemical composition of
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
s and
nebula
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 regio ...
e. He was one of the first astronomers to argue that some differences in stellar and nebular spectra were caused by differences in their chemical composition. Aller wrote a number of books, including ''Atoms, Stars, and Nebulae'', the third edition of which was published in 1991 (). He published 346 research papers between 1935 and 2004.
He was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1961
and to the
United States National Academy of Sciences in 1962. He won the
Henry Norris Russell Lectureship in 1992.
His doctoral students include
James B. Kaler
James Bailey "Jim" Kaler (December 29, 1938 — November 26, 2022) was an American astronomer and science writer.
After elementary and high-school education in Albany, New York, Kaler earned his A.B. at the University of Michigan in 1960. He atten ...
and
William Liller.
As of 2011, one of his three sons, Hugh Aller, was a professor and his daughter-in law, Margot Aller, a research scientist in the
University of Michigan astronomy department. His granddaughter, Monique Aller, was previously a
graduate student also in the University of Michigan astronomy department and now teaches in the Physics and Astronomy Department at
Georgia Southern University.
References
External links
Oral History interview transcript with Lawrence Aller on 18 August 1979, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and ArchivesNational Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aller, Lawrence
1913 births
2003 deaths
American astronomers
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Harvard University alumni
Indiana University faculty
University of Michigan faculty
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences