Douglas Walter Noble Stibbs

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRAS (1919–2010) was a 20th century Australian astronomer and astrophysicist, remembered for his work at

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

where he held the Napier Chair in Astronomy for 30 years. The Prof Walter Stibbs Lectures at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

are named in his honour.

Life

He was born on 17 February 1919 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, but of Scots descent. His father died when he was three. From 1937 he studied Physics at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, winning the Deas-Thomson Scholarship in 1940 and graduating BSc in 1942 and MSc in 1943. In the

Second World War 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 wo ...

he was based at

Mount Stromlo Observatory Mount Stromlo Observatory located in the west of Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University (ANU). Australia's oldest telescope and several others at the observatory we ...

researching gunsights. In the latter years of the war he lectured in Maths and Physics at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

, before returning to Mount Stromlo in 1945. In 1951 he moved to the Oxford University Observatory as a Radcliffe Fellow, working alongside Professor Harry Plaskett. During his time in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

he played cricket with the Berkshire Gentleman. From 1955 to 1959 he did research at the

Atomic Weapons Research Establishment } The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...

Aldermaston Aldermaston ( ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basin ...

. In 1959 he was given the Napier Chair as Professor of Astronomy at

. There he organised the building of the 38-inch Cassegrain-Schmidt telescope. He also organised for the construction of the university's very first computer in 1964. In 1968 he worked on the first studies of stellar radiative

opacity Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shie ...

with T. R. Carson and D. F. Mayers. In 1961 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

and served as its Vice President 1972/3. A keen runner, in 1991 he won the gold medal for the marathon in the Australian Veteran Games in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. He died in Canberra, Australia on 12 April 2010.

Family

In 1949 he was married to fellow-scientist Margaret Calvert.

Publications

*''The Outer Layers of a Star'' (1953) co-written with Sir Richard Woolley.

Walter Stibbs Lectures

There is a prestigious annual lecture series sponsored by the Stibbs family in memory of Walter Stibbs, together with the Sydney Institute for Astronomy,

. Some of the past Stibbs Lecturers have been: *2014 - Prof

Fulvio Melia Fulvio Melia (born 2 August 1956) is an Italy, Italian-Americans, American astrophysicist, cosmologist and author. He is professor of physics, astronomy and the applied math program at the University of Arizona and was a scientific editor of ''T ...

- "Cracking the Einstein Code" *2015 - Prof Andrea Ghez - "The Monster at the Heart of our Universe" *2016 - Prof

Natalie Batalha Natalie M. Batalha (born May 14, 1966) is professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. Previously she was a research astronomer in the Space Sciences Division of NASA Ames Research Center and held the position of Science Team Lead (2 ...

*2017 - Prof

David Reitze David Howard Reitze (born 6 January 1961) is an American laser physicist who is professor of physics at the University of Florida and served as the scientific spokesman of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory ( LIGO) experime ...

- "LIGO Gravitational Waves" *2018 - Prof

Brian Schmidt Brian Paul Schmidt (born 24 February 1967) is an American Australian astrophysics, astrophysicist at the Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He was the Vice-Chancellor o ...

- "The State of the Universe" *2019 - Prof

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (; Bell; born 15 July 1943) is a Northern Irish physicist who, as a doctoral student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. This discovery later earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974, but she was not ...

- "Pulsars and the universe" *2020 - postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis *2021 - Dr

Jill Tarter Jill Cornell Tarter (born January 16, 1944) is an American astronomer best known for her work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Tarter is the former director of the Center for SETI Research, holding the Bernard M. Oliver Ch ...

- "A Cosmic Perspective" *2023 - Dr

Emily Levesque Emily Levesque (born 1984) is an American astronomer, author, and associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington. She is known for her work on massive stars and using these stars to investigate galaxy formatio ...

- "The Last Stargazers: True Stories and Adventures of Astronomy" *2024 - Prof Richard Ellis - "The Quest For Cosmic Dawn: Results from the James Webb Space Telescope"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stibbs, Douglas Walter Noble 1919 births 2010 deaths Scientists from Sydney Academics of the University of St Andrews Australian astrophysicists 20th-century Australian astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh