Uco van Wijk explained

Uco van Wijk (20 May 1924, Jogjakarta, Dutch East Indies  - 10 August 1966) was a Dutch astronomer and educator who founded the astronomy program at the University of Maryland^[1] and was instrumental in bringing Gart Westerhout from the Netherlands to become Department Head. He graduated from Harvard University with a BA in 1948 and a PhD in 1952.^[2]

Honors

• The crater Van Wijk on the Moon is named after him.
• The astronomy library at the University of Maryland is named after him.
• The Sundial http://www.umd.edu/traditions/gr/images/sundial.jpg located in the center of McKeldin Mall on the campus was originally a gift from the Class of 1965, the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and friends of Professor Uco Van Wijk. It was renovated with donations from the Class of 1990.

References

• Obituary by Bart Bok in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Notes and References

1. Obituary: Uco Van Wijk. Physics Today. October 1966. 19. 10. 121. https://web.archive.org/web/20130927091852/http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v19/i10/p121_s3?bypassSSO=1. dead. 2013-09-27. 10.1063/1.3047755. free.
2. https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1967QJRAS...8..386.