Gerard van Belle
{{short description|American astronomer (born 1968)}}
{{Infobox scientist
|image_size =
|name = Gerard Theodore van Belle
|image = Gerard Theodore van Belle.jpg
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|10|30|df=yes}}
|birth_place = Tallahassee, Florida
|death_date =
|death_place =
|citizenship =
|nationality = American - Canadian
|ethnicity =
|field = Astronomy
|work_institutions = Lowell, ESO, Caltech, JPL, St. Mary's College of Maryland
|alma_mater = University of Wyoming, Johns Hopkins University, Whitman College
|doctoral_advisor = H. Mel Dyck
| thesis_title = Angular Size Measurements of Highly Evolved Stars
| thesis_url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996PhDT........24V
| thesis_year = 1996
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = The use of interferometry in studies of the stellar structure and detection of extrasolar planets.
|awards = 2002 Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
|influenced =
|prizes =
|footnotes =
|signature =
}}
Gerard Theodore van Belle (born October 30, 1968) is an American astronomer. He is an expert in optical (visible and near-infrared) astronomical interferometry. He currently works at the Lowell Observatory as the Director of Science.https://lowell.edu/people/gerard-van-belle/
Education
van Belle received a bachelor's degree in physics from Whitman College in 1990, a master's degree in physics from The Johns Hopkins University in 1993, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wyoming in 1996. While at Whitman College, he initiated as a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Career
After schooling, van Belle took a position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an instrument architect for NASA's Keck Interferometer, and later joined the Michelson Science Center (now NASA Exoplanet Science Institute) at Caltech in 2003. He has participated in the commissioning of the Palomar Testbed Interferometer, and the CHARA Array. In 2007, he became a member of the astronomy faculty at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and instrument scientist for the PRIMA instrument of ESO's VLTI facility; later in early 2011 he was also appointed instrument scientist for the MATISSE instrument of the VLTI. Since August 2011 he has been a member of the astronomer faculty at Lowell Observatory. In May 2017 he was appointed the Director of the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI), and after a one-year tenure became Chief Scientist for the facility, until 2022. In May 2024 he was appointed the Director for Science at Lowell Observatory.
= Research=
van Belle has utilized near-infrared astronomical interferometers to measure the sizes of hundreds of nearby stars.{{cite journal
| author = Dyck, H. M., van Belle, G. T., & Benson, J. A.
| title = Angular Diameters and Effective Temperatures of Carbon Stars
| journal = Astronomical Journal
| date = 1996
| volume = 112
| pages = 294
| doi = 10.1086/118014
| bibcode = 1996AJ....112..294D }}
|author1=van Belle |author2=G. T. | display-authors = etal
| title = Angular Size Measurements of 18 Mira Variable Stars at 2.2 microns
| journal = Astronomical Journal
| date = 1996
| volume = 112
| pages = 2147
| doi = 10.1086/118170
| bibcode = 1996AJ....112.2147V | doi-access =
}}
|author1=van Belle |author2=G. T. | display-authors = etal
| title = Angular Size Measurements of Carbon Miras and S-Type Stars
| journal = Astronomical Journal
| date = 1997
| volume = 114
| pages = 2150
| doi = 10.1086/118635
| bibcode = 1997AJ....114.2150V | url = https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/downloads/w9505947n
}}
| author=van Belle, G.T.
| display-authors=etal
| title = Radii and Effective Temperatures for G, K, and M Giants and Supergiants
| journal = The Astronomical Journal
| date = 1999
| volume = 117
| issue=1
| pages = 521–533
| doi = 10.1086/300677
| bibcode = 1999AJ....117..521V
| citeseerx=10.1.1.21.9648
| s2cid=18617983
}}
| author=van Belle, G.T.
| display-authors=etal
| title=Supergiant temperatures and linear radii from near-infrared interferometry
| journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| date=2009
| volume=394
| issue=4
| pages=1925–1935
| bibcode=2009MNRAS.394.1925V
| doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14146.x| doi-access=free
|arxiv = 0811.4239 | s2cid=118372600
}}
| author = van Belle, G. T., & von Braun, K.
| title = Directly Determined Linear Radii and Effective Temperatures of Exoplanet Host Stars
| journal = Astrophysical Journal
| date = 2009
| volume = 694
| issue = 2
| pages = 1085–1098
| doi = 10.1088/0004-637X/694/2/1085
| bibcode = 2009ApJ...694.1085V |arxiv = 0901.1206 | s2cid = 18370219
}}
|author1=van Belle |author2=G. T. | display-authors = etal
| title = Direct Measurements of Giant Star Effective Temperatures and Linear Radii: Calibration against Spectral Types and V - K Color
| journal = Astrophysical Journal
| date = 2021
| volume = 922
|issue=2 | pages = 163
| doi = 10.3847/1538-4357/ac1687
|doi-access=free |arxiv=2107.09205 | bibcode = 2021ApJ...922..163V
}}
The first direct measurement of stellar shape was carried out by a team led by him using the Palomar Testbed Interferometer to make observations of the rapidly rotating star Altair.{{cite journal
|author1=van Belle |author2=G. T. | display-authors = etal
| title = Altair's Oblateness and Rotation Velocity from Long-Baseline Interferometry
| journal = Astrophysical Journal
| date = 2001
| volume = 559
| issue = 2
| pages = 1155
| doi = 10.1086/322340
| bibcode = 2001ApJ...559.1155V |s2cid=13969695 }} He also contributed to practical considerations of operating astronomical interferometers, particularly regarding considerations of calibration of these complicated instruments.{{cite journal
|author1=van Belle |author2=G. T. | title = Predicting Stellar Angular Sizes
| journal = Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
| date = 1999
| volume = 111
| issue = 766
| pages = 1515
| doi = 10.1086/316462
| bibcode = 1999PASP..111.1515V |arxiv = astro-ph/9904295 |s2cid=119336489 }}
| author = van Belle, G. T., & van Belle, G.
| title = Establishing Visible Interferometer System Responses: Resolved and Unresolved Calibrators
| journal = Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
| date = 2005
| volume = 117
| issue = 837
| pages = 1263–1270
| doi = 10.1086/449603
| bibcode = 2005PASP..117.1263V |arxiv = astro-ph/0508266 | s2cid = 15867046
}}
|author1=van Belle |author2=G. T. | display-authors = etal
| title = The Palomar Testbed Interferometer Calibrator Catalog
| journal = Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
| date = 2008
| volume = 176
| issue = 1
| pages = 276
| doi = 10.1086/526548
| bibcode = 2008ApJS..176..276V |arxiv = 0711.4194 |s2cid=10713221 }}
= Leadership=
van Belle served as President of the International Astronomical Union's Commission 54 on Optical and Infrared Interferometry, for 2012–2015, after terms as Vice President (2009–2012) and Secretary (2006–2009).
= Honors, awards and accolades=
Asteroid 25155 van Belle is named for him.[http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=25155;old=0;orb=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#elem Asteroid 25155 van Belle] data online at JPL Horizons
In 2018 Dr. van Belle was named a recipient of the Significant Sig Award of the Sigma Chi fraternity.{{cite web|url=https://sigmachi.org/news-story-news-fraternity-announces-recipients-of-its-2018-significant-sig-award/|website=sigmachi.org|title=Fraternity Announces Recipients of its 2018 Significant Sig Award}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www2.lowell.edu/users/gerard/ Lowell Observatory's page for van Belle]
- [http://iau-c54.wikispaces.com/ IAU Commission 54 wiki]
- [https://twitter.com/fringedoctor Twitter] @FringeDoctor
{{DEFAULTSORT:van Belle, Gerard}}
Category:Whitman College alumni
Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni