Robert Kraft (astronomer)

Robert Kraft
Born	(1927-06-16)June 16, 1927 Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Died	May 26, 2015(2015-05-26) (aged 87) Santa Cruz, California
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Washington, University of California at Berkeley
Known for	Kraft break
Scientific career
Doctoral advisor	George Herbig

Robert Paul Kraft (June 16, 1927 – May 26, 2015) was an American astronomer.[1] He performed pioneering work on Cepheid variables, stellar rotation, novae, and the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. His name is also associated with the Kraft break: the abrupt change in the average rotation rate of main sequence stars around spectral type F8.[2]

Career

Kraft served as director of the Lick Observatory (1981–1991), president of the American Astronomical Society (1974–1976), and president of the International Astronomical Union (1997–2000).[3]

He received his B.S. at the University of Washington in 1947, M.S. in mathematics at the University of Washington in 1949, and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.[4] He died in 2015.[5]

Honors

Awards

• Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy (1962)
• Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1995)
• Bruce Medal (2005)[6]
• National Academy of Sciences

Named after him

• Asteroid 3712 Kraft

References

1. Daintith, John (2008-08-18). Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists, Third Edition. CRC Press. ISBN 9781420072723. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
2. Kraft, R. P. (1967), "Studies of Stellar Rotation. V. The Dependence of Rotation on Age among Solar-Type Stars", Astrophysical Journal, 150: 551, Bibcode:1967ApJ...150..551K, doi:10.1086/149359
3. "Robert P. Kraft, eminent astronomer and former director of UC Observatories, dies at age 87". UC Santa Cruz News.
4. Kraft, Robert P. (2009). "An Astronomical Life Salted by Pure Chance". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 47 (1): 1–26. Bibcode:2009ARA&A..47....1K. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-082708-101743.
5. "Robert P. Kraft, eminent astronomer and former director of UC Observatories, dies at age 87". UC Santa Cruz News. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
6. "The Bruce Medalists: Robert P. Kraft". Retrieved 2010-02-01.

Further reading

• Kraft, R. P. (2009). "An Astronomical Life Salted by Pure Chance". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 47 (1): 1–26. Bibcode:2009ARA&A..47....1K. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-082708-101743.

External links

• Quotations related to Robert Kraft (astronomer) at Wikiquote
• Sandra Faber, "Robert P. Kraft", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2022)