Armin Joseph Deutsch (January 25, 1918–November 11, 1969), was an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

writer.

Life and career

Deutsch was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and earned a BS from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

in 1940 and, after wartime service as an instructor at the Army Air Force at Chanute Field in Illinois, a PhD from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1946 with a dissertation on the spectra of A-type variable stars."Deutsch, Armin Joseph", ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers'', ed. Thomas Hockey et al., Springer Publishing, 2007
Volume 1, p. 295online version 2014
retrieved July 29, 2020."Alumni: Armin J. Deutsch, 1946"
The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, retrieved July 29, 2020. As a graduate student, he was an instructor at Yerkes Observatory. After completing his doctorate, he was an instructor at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

for one year and then in 1947 moved to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he was promoted to lecturer in 1949. Beginning in 1951 he was on the staff of the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatory in California; he died in Pasadena in 1969. Deutsch's research continued to focus on the A-type stars. He established that Horace Babcock and Douglas W. N. Stibbs's oblique rotator model explained the anomalous variability of Ap stars, and later studied other anomalous hot stars, such as the blue stragglers; he suggested that both they and the Sun had rapidly rotating cores. He introduced Doppler tomography in 1958, at a symposium at Mount Wilson. He was associate editor of the ''Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics'', and a councillor of the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

from 1964 to 1967. His short story " A Subway Named Mobius", a fantasy based on mathematics and particularly

topology Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...

published in December 1950, has been much anthologized and was nominated for a Retro Hugo in 2001; it placed 4th."A Subway Named Mobius"
Internet Speculative Fiction Database, retrieved July 29, 2020.

Selected scientific publications

* Armin J. Deutsch, "The Sun", in ''The New Astronomy, a Scientific American Book'', New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955 * A. Deutsch, W. Klemperer, eds., ''Space Age Astronomy: Proceedings of an International Symposium held August 7–9, 1961 at the California Institute of Technology in conjunction with the 11th General Assembly of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

(IAU, GA, 11)'', New York: Academic Press, 1962 * Armin J. Deutsch, "The Ageing Stars of the Milky Way", in ''Stars and Galaxies: Birth, Ageing, and Death in the Universe'', ed. Thornton Leigh Page, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1962 * Ann Merchant Boesgaard, Wendy Hagen, Armin J. Deutsch
"Circumstellar Envelopes of M Giants"
''Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society'', Vol. 8, p. 304, March 1976 (his last paper, published posthumously)

Honors

The crater Deutsch on the far side of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

is named after him.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deutsch, Armin Joseph 1918 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American astronomers American male novelists American science fiction writers Harvard University faculty Ohio State University faculty Scientists from Chicago University of Arizona alumni University of Chicago alumni United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II

Life and career

Selected scientific publications

Honors

References

Further reading

External links