Hertzsprung, Ejnar

Hertzsprung, Einar

Born Frederiksberg near Copenhagen, Denmark, 10 October 1873

Died Roskilde, Denmark, 21 October 1967

Danish astronomer Einar Hertzsprung gave his name to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of stellar luminosities versus temperatures, a primary tool in studying the evolution of stars, and to the Hertzsprung gap in that diagram between main sequence and giant stars, representing the very rapid change that occurs when stars first exhaust their central supply of hydrogen fuel. He was the son of a director of a Danish state life insurance company who had originally taken a degree in astronomy at Copenhagen University.

Hertzsprung completed a degree (after his father’s death in 1893) in chemical engineering at Copenhagen Polytechnic Institute in 1898 and proceeded to work for the Danish company Hoffding in Saint Petersburg. In 1901, he returned to academe and began work at Leipzig University on photochemistry with Wilhelm Ostwald. The death of his brother the...

• Herrmann, Dieter B. (1994). Ejnar Hertzsprung: Pionier der Sternforschung. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

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• Nielsen, Axel V. (1968). “Ejnar Hertzsprung – Measurer of Stars.” Sky & Telescope 35, no. 1: 4–6.

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• Oosterhoff, P. Th. (1969). “Ejnar Hertzsprung.” Astronomische Nachrichten 291: 85–87.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (Leibniz Society of Sciences), Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, Germany

   Dieter B. Herrmann

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dieter B. Herrmann .

Editors and Affiliations

1. Department of Earth Science, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA

   Thomas Hockey

2. University of California, Irvine School of Physical Sciences, Irvine, CA, USA

   Virginia Trimble

3. Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

   Thomas R. Williams

4. Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, USA

   Katherine Bracher

5. York Univesity, Toronto, ON, Canada

   Richard A. Jarrell

6. University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

   Jordan D. Marché II

7. University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

   JoAnn Palmeri

8. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

   Daniel W. E. Green