Philip Childs Keenan (March 31, 1908 – April 20, 2000) 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 ...
.
Keenan was an American spectroscopist who collaborated with
William Wilson Morgan
William Wilson Morgan (January 3, 1906 – June 21, 1994) was an American astronomer and astrophysicist. The principal theme in Morgan's work was stellar and galaxy classification. He is also known for helping prove the existence of spiral arms i ...
and
Edith Kellman (1911–2007) to develop the
MKK
Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (also known as MAP2K, MEK, MAPKK) is a dual-specificity kinase enzyme which phosphorylates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK).
MAP2K is classified as .
There are seven genes:
* (a.k.a. MEK1)
* (a. ...
stellar spectral classification system between 1939 and 1943. This two-dimensional classification system (temperature & luminosity) was further revised by Morgan and Keenan in 1973. The MK system remains the standard stellar spectral classification system used by astronomers today.
During their long collaboration, Keenan tended to focus his research on stars cooler than the Sun, while Morgan emphasized the hotter stars. Keenan had a long and productive career, publishing his final scientific paper in 1999, seventy years after his first.
Honors
Named after him
*
Asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
10030 Philkeenan
References
Mary Woods Scott, "Philip Childs Keenan", in Hockey et al. eds., ''Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers'' (Springer 2007)
External links
*
Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 11:29-50, September 1973PASP 112:1519–1522, November 2000BAAS 33: 1574-1575, 2001
1908 births
2000 deaths
American astronomers
{{US-astronomer-stub