Allan Sandage, Astronomer, Dies at 84; Charted Cosmos’s Age and Expansion

NYTimes ^ | 11/17/10 | Dennis Overbye

[LibWhacker]

Allan R. Sandage, who spent his life measuring the universe, becoming the most influential astronomer of his generation, died Saturday at his home in San Gabriel, Calif. He was 84.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, according to an announcement by the Carnegie Observatories, where he had spent his whole professional career.

Over more than six decades, Dr. Sandage was like one of those giant galaxies that sit at the center of a cluster of galaxies, dominating cosmic weather. He wrote more than 500 papers, ranging across the cosmos, covering the evolution and behavior of stars, the birth of the Milky Way galaxy, the age of the universe and the discovery of the first quasar, not to mention the Hubble constant, a famously contested number that measures the rate of expansion of the universe. Dr. Sandage pursued the number with his longtime collaborator, Gustav Tammann of the University of Basel in Switzerland.

[AndyJackson]

this is sad news. A great obituary for a great astronomer.

[AndyJackson]

ping for a great man.

[AndyJackson]

ping for a great man.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[MikeD]

Very sad — Sandage is a giant in astrophysics.

[Hebrews 11:6]

It was my privilege and pleasure to know Allan personally. He was a kind, gracious and fun person.

Allan was the central character in Dennis Overbye's bestselling mid-80s book, Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos. An interesting subplot of the book was the author's puzzlement at and exploration of Sandage's burgeoning Christian faith, which is how I got to know him. At the instigation of Dr. Hugh Ross (who was then on-staff prior to founding Reasons to Believe), Allan began attending Sierra Madre [CA] Congregational Church, where I had the distinct pleasure of instructing him (and others) in the New Believers' Class. We enjoyed the irony of me introducing God's spiritual realm to the man who had seen farthest in His physical universe.

I've been intending to re-read Lonely Hearts and now I shall.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks AndyJackson. Here’s something interesting:

A Scientist Reflects on Religious Belief
Dr. Allan Sandage
http://www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth15.html

“As I said before, the world is too complicated in all its parts and interconnections to be due to chance alone. I am convinced that the existence of life with all its order in each of its organisms is simply too well put together.”

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks AndyJackson for the ping, and thanks LibWhacker for posting the topic.

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks AndyJackson for the ping, and thanks LibWhacker for posting the topic.

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