Leif Erland Andersson Explained

Leif Erland Andersson
Birth Date:4 November 1943
Birth Place:Falkenberg, Halland County, Sweden
Death Place:Falkenberg, Halland County, Sweden
Nationality:Swedish
Education:PhD
Alma Mater:Lund University, Indiana University Bloomington
Occupation:Astronomer
Spouse:Gloria Ptacek

Leif Erland Andersson (4 November 1943 – 4 May 1979) was a Swedish astronomer.[1]

Early life

Andersson had been a child prodigy who won the Swedish television quiz show 10.000-kronorsfrågan ("The 10,000 Kronor Question") twice, the first time at age 16.[2]

From his late teen years, he was also a well-known science fiction fan in Sweden, who chaired the MalCon in 1966 in Malmö[3] and took over editing the pioneering Swedish science fiction amateur journal, the Scandinavian Amateur Press Alliance (SAPA) after John-Henri Holmberg left the position some time after 1964.[4]

Professional career

Andersson studied astronomy at Lund University,[5] but received a scholarship to San Michele Observatory in on the island of Anacapri in Sicily in 1968.[6]

He studied the work of Professor Åke Wallenquist,[7] at Uppsala University. Andersson later went to Indiana University Bloomington to complete his PhD degree. While there, he married Gloria Ptacek in 1973 at the Beck Chapel of Indiana University.[8]

Andersson was hired in a post-doctoral research associate position in the summer of 1973 by Dr. Gerard Kuiper[9] at the Lunar & Planetary Laboratory[10] of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Andersson calculated the first observable transits of Pluto and Charon[11] (that took place in the early 1980s) but did not live to see them.[12]

He mapped the far side of the Moon in NASA's Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature, with co-author Ewen Whitaker, published in 1982.[13]

Death

Leif Andersson died from lymphatic cancer at the age of 35 on 4 May 1979. He was survived by his wife, Gloria Lee Andersson (née Ptacek).

Honors

The crater Andersson on the Moon was named in his memory.

In honor of Leif Andersson's work on the determination of Pluto's pole position, the Spacewatch Asteroid Project at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory named the asteroid 9223 Leifandersson on 24 January 2000 .

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Svenskar på månens yta. sv. 20 June 2015 . dead . https://archive.today/20121225054140/http://www.algonet.se/~makastro/Asterisken08nr4.htm . 25 December 2012.
  2. Book: Gradvall. Jan. Tusen svenska klassiker: böcker, filmer, skivor, tv-program från 1956 till i dag.. sv. 2009. Norstedt. Stockholm. 978-91-1-301717-4. 3.
  3. Web site: Roimola. Ben. Sven Christer Swahn är död. Enhörningen (Unicorn). Enhörningen Magazine. 23 September 2014.
  4. Web site: Lynch. Richard. Chapter 5: Notable Fanzines of the 1960s. Fan History Book of the 1960s. The Joe Phan Organization. 25 September 2014.
  5. Web site: Lund University Astrophysics program. Lund University. 22 September 2014. 2.
  6. Experiences from 16 Years of Solar Work in Anacapri . Solar Physics . The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System . 1968SoPh....4..493O . 23 September 2014. Öhman . Yngve . 1968 . 4 . 4 . 493 . 10.1007/BF00147916 . 122864384 .
  7. Web site: Åke Wallenquist (1904-1994). Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University. Uppsala University. 23 September 2014.
  8. Web site: Need help: Add cite to show married to Leif Erland Andersson on Project:Support desk. www.mediawiki.org. en. 2017-09-22.
  9. Web site: Gerard P. Kuiper Biography. Gerard P. Kuiper Papers. University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections. 22 September 2014. 3.
  10. Web site: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory home page. Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Univ. of Arizona. 22 September 2014. 4.
  11. Web site: Charon Overview. NASA Solar System Exploration: Charon Overview site. NASA. 22 September 2014. 5. https://web.archive.org/web/20141008221417/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Plu_Charon. 8 October 2014. dead.
  12. Web site: Jones. Barry W.. Pluto: Sentinel of the Outer Solar System. Cambridge UP Catalogue. Cambridge University Press. 22 September 2014. 2. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150620233423/http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/astronomy/planetary-science/pluto-sentinel-outer-solar-system. 20 June 2015.
  13. Web site: Andersson. Leif. Whitaker. Ewen. NASA catalogue of lunar nomenclature. NASA Technical Reports Server. NASA. 23 September 2014.

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