Franz Daniel Kahn
{{EngvarB|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Franz Kahn
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRAS}}
| birth_place = Nuremberg, Germany
| birth_name = Franz Daniel Kahn
| resting_place = Manchester
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1926|05|13}}
| death_date = {{death date and age |df=yes|1998|02|08|1926|05|13}}
| workplaces = University of Manchester
| fields = Astrophysics
| education = St Paul's School, London
| alma_mater = University of Oxford (BA, DPhil)
| thesis_title = Some problems concerning the luminosity and other properties of the upper atmosphere
| thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.672862
| thesis_year =
| doctoral_advisor = Sydney Chapman
| doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|
- Wal Sargent{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Wallace Leslie William |last=Sargent |title=Dynamics of novae – a relativistic treatment |publisher=University of Manchester |year=1957 |url=http://www.librarysearch.manchester.ac.uk/MU_VU1:BLENDED:44MAN_ALMA_DS21141920320001631 }}
- Tim O'Brien{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Timothy John|last=O'Brien|author-link=Timothy John O'Brien |title=A model for the remnant of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi (1985) |publisher=University of Manchester |year=1990 |url=http://www.librarysearch.manchester.ac.uk/MU_VU1:BLENDED:44MAN_ALMA_DS21157973630001631 }}
- Leon B. Lucy}}
| website =
| spouse = {{marriage|Carla Copeland|1951|1981}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=n84jQJ2UqwLZ5CO3Dzc9Hw&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=1 February 2022|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}
}}
Franz Daniel Kahn {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRAS}} (1926–1998) was a mathematician and astrophysicist at the University of Manchester.{{Cite ODNB|id=69540|title=Kahn, Franz Daniel|year=2004|first1=Francis |last=Graham-Smith|authorlink=Francis Graham-Smith}}{{Cite book|title=Quasars: their importance in astronomy and physics|last1=H. P.|first1=Palmer |last2=Kahn|first2=F.D.|date=1968|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9780719002649|oclc=500159318}}{{cite journal|last1=Terrell|first1=J.|title=Quasars. Their Importance in Astronomy and Physics. F. D. Kahn and H. P. Palmer. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1967. xii + 112 pp.|journal=Science|volume=159|issue=3812|year=1968|pages=291–292|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.159.3812.291}} He was Professor of Astronomy from 1966 to 1993, then Emeritus thereafter in the School of Physics and Astronomy.{{Who's Who | title=KAHN, Prof. Franz Daniel | id = U179626 | volume = 2017 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|type=was}}
Education
Kahn was educated at St Paul's School, London from 1940 to 1944, after which he secured an open scholarship to The Queen's College, Oxford. After graduating with first-class honours in mathematics in 1947 he moved to Balliol College, Oxford in 1948 as a Skynner senior student. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1950 for research supervised by Sydney Chapman on the luminosity of the upper atmosphere.{{MathGenealogy|id=133057}}{{cite thesis|last=Kahn|first=Franz Daniel|title=Some problems concerning the luminosity and other properties of the upper atmosphere|year=1950|degree=DPhil|website=ethos.bl.uk|publisher=University of Oxford|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.672862}}
Research and career
According to his certificate of election as a Fellow of the Royal Society: {{quote|Franz Kahn has made many original contributions to plasma astrophysics, cosmical gas dynamics and the physics of star formation, with significant early papers on the structure of ionisation fronts and collision-free shocks. More recently he has done important work on stellar winds and galactic fountains, on planetary nebulae and on remnants of novae and supernovae. His versatility is shown by papers on the spiral structure of the Galaxy, on the nature of the Local Group and the account (with the late Carla Kahn) of the Einstein-de Sitter correspondence.{{cite journal|last1=Kahn|first1=Carla|last2=Kahn|first2=Franz|author-link2=Franz Daniel Kahn|title=Letters from Einstein to de Sitter on the nature of the Universe|journal=Nature|volume=257|issue=5526|year=1975|pages=451–454|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/257451a0|bibcode = 1975Natur.257..451K |s2cid=4163892}} Kahn's style is especially noteworthy for his skill in building simple mathematical models which bring out the essence of the physics.{{cite journal|url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1993%2F20%27)|journal=Nature|title=Certificate of election: EC/1993/20 Franz Daniel Kahn (1926–1998)|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6qrsvJ6KU?url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27EC%2F1993%2F20%27%29|archive-date=31 May 2017|author=Anon|year=1993|volume=257 |issue=5526 |publisher=Royal Society|location=London|doi=10.1038/257451a0 |url-status=dead |access-date=31 May 2017 |bibcode = 1975Natur.257..451K|s2cid=4163892 |url-access=subscription}} }}
= Awards and honours =
Kahn was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1993.{{cite journal|last2=Lynden Bell|first2=Donald|year=1999|title=Franz Daniel Kahn. 13 May 1926 – 8 February 1998: Elected F.R.S. 1993|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=45|pages=255–267|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1999.0017|issn=0080-4606|last1=Dyson|first1=James E.|s2cid=71566659|author-link1=James Dyson (physicist)|author-link2=Donald Lynden-Bell}} He was also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS).{{cite journal|last1=Dyson|first1=John|title=Franz Daniel Kahn FRS 1926–1998|journal=Astronomy & Geophysics|volume=39|issue=5|year=1998|pages=5.32–5.33|issn=1366-8781|doi=10.1093/astrog/39.5.5.32|doi-access=free}} In 1991 the International Astronomers Union named the asteroid Kahnia after him.
Personal life
Kahn married Carla Copeland (Carla Kahn) in 1951 and had four children. Kahn died of a heart attack in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, on 8 February 1998 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in south Manchester. He was survived by his four children.{{cite web|url=https://jeremykahn.co.uk/2013/04/fdk/|first=Jeremy|last=Kahn|year=2013|website=jeremykahn.co.uk|title=About my father: Franz Kahn}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{FRS 1993}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London
Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford