Elizabeth Roemer

Elizabeth Pat Roemer (September 4, 1929 – April 8, 2016) was an American astronomer whose research interests were centered on comets and asteroids.[1][2]

Elizabeth Roemer in 1963

In 1955, Roemer earned her PhD from UC Berkeley and continued there as an assistant astronomer for a time. She also conducted research at the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory.[3]

In 1966, Roemer was hired to be an assistant professor in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Three years later she was hired to be a full-time professor.[4] Roemer is noted as a recover of lost comets. She discovered the two main-belt asteroids 1930 Lucifer and 1983 Bok.[4] In addition, she took an extensive set of photographic plates of comets over 25 years, attempting to get consistent data for the magnitudes of the comet nuclei. She was well known for detecting 79 returning short period comets during her career. She also was able to compute many orbits for comets and minor planets in our solar system. In 1972 she successfully imaged Comet Encke just 10 days from aphelion.[5][6]In the same year she also managed to observe 65P/Gunn close to aphelion.[7] In 1975, she also co-discovered Themisto (Jupiter XVIII), one of the 79 moons of Jupiter.[8]

The inner main-belt asteroid 1657 Roemera, discovered by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild in 1961, was named in her honor (M.P.C. 2347).[9]

Awards

Roemer received the BA Gould Prize of the National Academy of Sciences, the NASA Special Award, and the Donohoe Lectureship of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.[3]

References
  1. Antoinette Beiser (2016). "Elizabeth Roemer September 4, 1929 - April 8, 2016" (PDF). The Lowell Observer (108): 4. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  2. "Elizabeth Roemer". Lowell Observatory Archives. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  3. Wisnom, Craig H. (2016-10-01). "Elizabeth Roemer 1929–2016Elizabeth Roemer 1929–2016". Astronomy & Geophysics. 57 (5): 5.12. doi:10.1093/astrogeo/atw177. ISSN 1366-8781.
  4. "Elizabeth Roemer (1929- ), at her desk at the University of California Lick Observatory, c. 1963". siris-archives.si.edu. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  5. Bouška, Jan; Vanýsek, Vladimír (1972). "A Note on the Cometary Nucleus" (PDF). Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Mathematica et Physica. 13 (2): 73–84. Bibcode:1972AcMPh..13...73B. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  6. Kronk, Gary W; Meyer, Maik (2010). Cometography A Catalog of Comets Volume 5: 1960–1982. Cambridge University Press. p. 287. ISBN 9780521872263.
  7. Marsden, B.G (December 1973). "Comets in 1972". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 14: 390–391. Bibcode:1973QJRAS..14..389M. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  8. Brian G. Marsden (October 3, 1975). "IAUC 2845: Probable New Satellite of Jupiter". International Astronomical Union Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  9. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(1657) Roemera". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1657) Roemera. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 132. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1658. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.


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