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Mary Lea Heger
Mary Lea Heger (July 13, 1897 – July 13, 1983, later Mary Lea Shane) was an American astronomer who made important discoveries on the interstellar medium. She later founded the Lick Observatory Archives located in the Dean E. McHenry Library. In 1982, her monument at Lick was renamed the Mary Lea Shane Archives of Lick Observatory. Education and career She was born in Wilmington, Delaware. During childhood, Heger's family moved west to Belvedere on the San Francisco Bay, where she spent her youth. Heger received her bachelor's degree in 1919 from the University of California, Berkeley, becoming a graduate student in astronomy. After marrying C. Donald Shane in 1920 she completed her PhD in 1924, writing a thesis under the supervision of W. W. Campbell at Lick Observatory that was one of the first papers to recognize the sharp, stationary Na I absorption lines in the spectra of distant binaries as interstellar in origin. She was also the discoverer of the diffuse interstellar ...
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Interstellar Medium
The interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the outer space, space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as cosmic dust, dust and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic medium. The energy that occupies the same volume, in the form of electromagnetic radiation, is the interstellar radiation field. Although the density of atoms in the ISM is usually far below that in the best laboratory vacuums, the mean free path between collisions is short compared to typical interstellar lengths, so on these scales the ISM behaves as a gas (more precisely, as a Plasma (physics), plasma: it is everywhere at least slightly ionized), responding to pressure forces, and not as a collection of non-interacting particles. The interstellar medium is composed of multiple phases distinguished by whether matter is ionic, atomic, or molecular, and the temp ...
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Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton (California), Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by the University of California Observatories, with headquarters on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus, where its scientific staff moved in the mid-1960s. It is named after James Lick. The first new moon of Jupiter to be identified since the time of Galileo, Amalthea (moon), Amalthea, the planet's fifth moon, was discovered at this observatory in 1892. Early history Lick Observatory is the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. The observatory, in a Classical Revival architecture, Classical Revival style structure, was constructed between 1876 and 1887, from a bequest from James Lick of $700,000, . Lick, originally a carpenter and piano maker, had arrived from Peru in San Franc ...
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Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek (Christina River tributary), Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County, Delaware, New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley metropolitan area. Wilmington was named by Proprietor Thomas Penn after his friend Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister during the reign of George II of Great Britain. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 70,898. Wilmington is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan statistical area (which also includes Philadelphia, Reading, Pennsylvania, Reading, Cam ...
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San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San Francisco, San Jose, California, San Jose, and Oakland, California, Oakland. The San Francisco Bay drains water from approximately 40 percent of California. Water from the Sacramento River, Sacramento and San Joaquin River, San Joaquin rivers, and from the Sierra Nevada mountains, flow into Suisun Bay, which then travels through the Carquinez Strait to meet with the Napa River at the entrance to San Pablo Bay, which connects at its south end to San Francisco Bay. It then connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait. However, this entire group of interconnected bays is often called the ''San Francisco Bay''. The bay was designated a Ramsar Convention, Ramsar Wetland of International Importance on February 2, 2013, and the Port ...
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University Of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley, it is the state's first land-grant university and is the founding campus of the University of California system. Berkeley has an enrollment of more than 45,000 students. The university is organized around fifteen schools of study on the same campus, including the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry, College of Chemistry, the UC Berkeley College of Engineering, College of Engineering, UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science, College of Letters and Science, and the Haas School of Business. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was originally founded as par ...
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William Wallace Campbell
William Wallace Campbell (April 11, 1862 – June 14, 1938) was an American astronomer, and director of Lick Observatory from 1901 to 1930. He specialized in spectroscopy. He was the tenth president of the University of California from 1923 to 1930. Biography He was born on a farm in Hancock County, Ohio, the son of Robert Wilson and Harriet Welsh Campbell. After a few years of local schooling he entered in 1882 the University of Michigan to study civil engineering, graduating Bachelor of Science in 1886. Whilst at university he developed his interest in astronomy when he read Simon Newcomb's ''Popular Astronomy''. After graduating he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the University of Colorado but soon moved back to Michigan as an instructor in astronomy. In 1891 he was invited to work on spectroscopy at Lick Observatory in California. Campbell was a pioneer of astronomical spectroscopy and catalogued the radial velocities of stars. He was also recognized for his work i ...
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Spectral Line
A spectral line is a weaker or stronger region in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum. It may result from emission (electromagnetic radiation), emission or absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of light in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. Spectral lines are often used to identify atoms and molecules. These "fingerprints" can be compared to the previously collected ones of atoms and molecules, and are thus used to identify the atomic and molecular components of stars and planets, which would otherwise be impossible. Types of line spectra Spectral lines are the result of interaction between a Quantum mechanics, quantum system (usually atoms, but sometimes molecules or atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei) and a single photon. When a photon has about the right amount of photon energy, energy (which is connected to its frequency) to allow a change in the energy state of the system (in the case of an atom this is usually an electron cha ...
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Diffuse Interstellar Bands
Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are absorption features seen in the spectra of astronomical objects in the Milky Way and other galaxies. They are caused by the absorption of light by the interstellar medium. Circa 500 bands have now been seen, in ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths. The origin of most DIBs remains unknown, with common suggestions being polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other large carbon-bearing molecules. Only one DIB carrier has been identified: ionised buckminsterfullerene (C60+), which is responsible for several DIBs in the near-infrared. The carriers of most DIBs remain unidentified. Discovery and history Much astronomical work relies on the study of spectra - the light from astronomical objects dispersed using a prism or, more usually, a diffraction grating. A typical stellar spectrum will consist of a continuum, containing absorption lines, each of which is attributed to a particular atomic energy level transition in the atmosphere of ...
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ...
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Myocardial Infarction
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is retrosternal Angina, chest pain or discomfort that classically radiates to the left shoulder, arm, or jaw. The pain may occasionally feel like heartburn. This is the dangerous type of acute coronary syndrome. Other symptoms may include shortness of breath, nausea, presyncope, feeling faint, a diaphoresis, cold sweat, Fatigue, feeling tired, and decreased level of consciousness. About 30% of people have atypical symptoms. Women more often present without chest pain and instead have neck pain, arm pain or feel tired. Among those over 75 years old, about 5% have had an MI with little or no history of symptoms. An MI may cause heart failure, an Cardiac arrhythmia, irregular heartbeat, cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest. Most MIs occur d ...
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Scotts Valley, California
Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about south of downtown San Jose and north of the city of Santa Cruz, in the upland slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 12,224. Principal access to the city is supplied by State Route 17 that connects San Jose and Santa Cruz. The city was incorporated in 1966. History Approximately ten thousand years ago there was a lake in the lowest elevation of Scotts Valley. Archeological excavations of site CA-SCR-177 (Scotts Valley Site) in 1983 and 1987 support dates for human settlement of this area as between 9,000 and 12,000 years before present (''YBP''). The lake drained during the Mid-Holocene warming period (4,000-5,000 YBP) forming what is now known as Carbonera Creek. When the lake drained, the people moved downslope following the lake water's transformation as in became the creek. Around 2000 BC, Ohlone people occupied areas along the remaining ...
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1897 Births
Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedition against Benin. * January 7 – A cyclone destroys Darwin, Australia. * January 8 – Lady Flora Shaw, future wife of Governor General Lord Lugard, officially proposes the name "Nigeria" in a newspaper contest, to be given to the British Niger Coast Protectorate. * January 22 – In this date's issue of the journal ''Engineering'', the word ''computer'' is first used to refer to a mechanical calculation device. * January 31 – The Czechoslovak Trade Union Association is founded in Prague. February * February 10 – Freedom of religion is proclaimed in Madagascar. * February 16 – The French conquer the island of Raiatea and capture the rebel chief Teraupo'o, ending the Leeward Islands War and brin ...
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