![]() Albert Hiltner in classifying the spectra of all the southern OB stars in the Bright Star Catalogue. Bob also continued his thesis-sparked interest in hot stars through collaboration with Schild and W. For some of these variables, including Mira itself, the spectral signature of the clouds did not correlate with the change in the overall spectral type. He paid particular interest to the aluminum oxide clouds that came and went in their atmospheres. Thus, Bob became an expert practitioner and ardent promotor of the “MK Process and Stellar Classification,” the title of a conference in 1983 at which both Morgan and Philip Keenan were present, and which proceedings he edited.Īs a postdoc in the stimulating environment of Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories, with excellent access to observing, Bob pursued the spectroscopy of Mira variable stars. Bob caught the keenness of Morgan to experiment with equipment and ideas so as to perfect and extend classification schemes, while giving careful attention to the quality of data and to their analysis, based on the fundamentals of firm spectral standards. Morgan, his advisor, also shared with Bob an unexpected and persistent interest: extragalactic spectra. Rudy Schild, a fellow graduate student and a later collaborator, remembers the heavy astrophysical bias at Yerkes under such “greats” as Chandrasekhar, and how Bob absorbed all this theory while becoming attracted to observational astronomy, and particularly the power of spectral classification. Bob was appointed a Professor Emeritus in 2001. There he served as Associate Director of the David Dunlap Observatory and for 28 years traveled to Chile as the Director of the University’s Southern Observatory. Bob held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories in 1966-68, before joining the University of Toronto in 1968. Morgan, inspired him to his life’s work with the MK classification of stars. It was during the Doctorate that his advisor at Yerkes Observatory, William W. in Astronomy at the University of Chicago (1966). This led him to studying Physics at the University of Wisconsin (1960-61), and obtaining a Ph.D. 1960 in Math), and was there influenced by Professor Clifford Crump to pursue a career in Astronomy. ![]() Mighell, before serving in the US Marine Corps (1954-56). He graduated from West Aurora High School, where he met his first wife, Ada V. ![]()
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