Science
Ralph H. Fowler
Mathematical physicist and stellar theorist
Also known as Ralph Howard Fowler
Who they are
Ralph H. Fowler was a Cambridge mathematical physicist who applied statistical mechanics and atomic theory to stellar conditions. His collaboration with E. A. Milne helped connect absorption lines with stellar temperature and pressure. Those methods formed part of the theoretical foundation Cecilia Payne used in her analysis of stellar atmospheres.
He appears in the history of learning what stars are made of, through the theory supporting Payne’s spectral analysis.
Selected contributions
- Coauthored the 1923 Fowler–Milne study of stellar absorption-line intensities.Source ↗
- Contributed theoretical work applied in Payne’s 1925 Stellar Atmospheres.Source ↗Source 2 ↗
Selected works
Academic paper · 1923 · Published journal article
The Intensities of Absorption Lines in Stellar Spectra, and the Temperatures and Pressures in the Reversing Layers of Stars.: (Plates 15, 16.)
Fowler and E. A. Milne connect the strength of stellar absorption lines with temperatures and pressures in stellar atmospheres. The paper belongs to the theoretical groundwork Cecilia Payne later used to interpret stellar spectra.
Reading scope & citation
Publisher record: exact title, two authors, publication date, volume, pages and DOI. Publisher metadata only; the PDF was not read.
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/83.7.403
In the timeline
Biography sources
- Stellar Atmospheres: A Contribution to the Observational Study of High Temperature in the Reversing Layers of Stars ↗Harvard Observatory; Project Gutenberg transcription of original book
- Education and Doctoral Thesis ↗Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
- Ralph Howard Fowler ↗Trinity College, Cambridge
- The Intensities of Absorption Lines in Stellar Spectra, and the Temperatures and Pressures in the Reversing Layers of Stars.: (Plates 15, 16.) ↗Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society / Oxford Academic