Dimitri Manuel Mihalas (March 20, 1939 – November 21, 2013) was a

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

at the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...

in the field of

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

, and stellar atmospheres. He was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and was of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

origin. Mihalas obtained his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, and

from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, in 1959. In one year, he received his master's degree from

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

in 1960. He completed his PhD degree in three years in 1963 in physics and astronomy, also from

. At a very early age of 42, he became a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. Besides a large number of scientific papers, mostly related to radiative transfer, Mihalas authored reference books such as "Stellar Atmospheres". Mihalas had

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

. He wrote a number of essays and books on the problem. Scientific books * D. Mihalas (in collaboration with P.M. Routly) - ''Galactic Astronomy''. (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Company), 1968 * D. Mihalas - ''Stellar Atmospheres''. (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Company), 1970 * D. Mihalas, B. Pagel, and P. Souffrin ''Theorie des Atmospheres Stellaires''. First Advanced Course of the Swiss Society for Astronomy and Astrophysics. (Geneva: Observatoire de Geneve), 1971 * D. Mihalas - ''Stellar Atmospheres. 2nd ed.'' (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Company), 1978 * D. Mihalas and J. Binney - ''Galactic Astronomy: Structure and Kinematics of Galaxies.'' (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Company), 1981 48 * D. Mihalas and B. W. Mihalas - ''Foundations of Radiation Hydrodynamics''. (New York: Oxford University Press), 1984. Paperback Edition, (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.), 1999 * R. J. LeVeque, D. Mihalas, E. A. Dorfi, and E. Muller - ''Computational Methods for Astrophysical Fluid Flow''. Saas-Fee Advanced Course 27. Swiss Society for Astronomy and Astrophysics. (Berlin: Springer Verlag), 1998 * ''Stellar Atmosphere Modeling: Proceedings of an International Workshop Held in Tubingen, Germany, 8–12 April 2002 Stellar Atmosphere Modeling: Proceedings of an International Workshop Held in Tubingen, Germany, 8–12 April 2002'' (Astronomical Society of the pacific), 2003 (Editors: D. Mihalas, I. Hubeny, K. Werner) * I. Hubený and D. Mihalas - ''Theory of Stellar Atmospheres: An Introduction to Astrophysical Non-equilibrium Quantitative Spectroscopic Analysis''. (Princeton: Princeton University Press) 2015 Non-science books * D. Mihalas - ''Coming Back From The Dead'', 1990 * D. Mihalas, A. Sawyer, L. Wainwright - ''Trilogy in a Minor Key''. (Trilogy Productions), 1991 * D. Mihalas - ''Cantata for Six Lives And Continuo'', 1992 * D. Mihalas, C. Pursifull - ''If I Should Die before I Wake If I Should Die before I Wake''. (Hawk Productions), 1993 * D. Mihalas - ''Dream Shadows'', 1994 * D. Mihalas - ''Depression and Spiritual Growth''. (Pendle Hill Publications), 1996 * D. Mihalas - ''Life Matters: Poems by Dimitri Mihalas'', 1995 * D. Mihalas - ''The World Is My Witness'', 1997 * D. Mihalas - ''A Distant Summons'', 1998

References

External links

Conference Proceedings Dedicated to Dimitri Mihalas

2009 Spectroscopy and Radiation Hydrodynamics Conference in Boulder, Colorado Dedicated to Dimitri

Baolian Cheng, "Dimitri Mihalas," Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mihalas, Dimitri 1939 births 2013 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American astronomers American people of Greek descent Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel People with bipolar disorder