In this paper I discuss how awareness of the existence of white dwarfs developed in conjunction with an improved understanding of the nature of the Sun and the stars, as well as how it involved the efforts of a number of astronomers, both observers and theoreticians. I review some of the key discoveries and insights that led to a final acceptance of the reality of `white dwarfs', including the actual origin of the term itself. The observations that I primarily draw upon involve the faint blue companions of the nearby stars ?2 Eridani (40 Eri) and Sirius. As will be seen, the subluminous character of both companions was evident long before it was widely appreciated how truly unusual these stars actually are. Although there are several prior reviews of the early history of white dwarfs, including a brief but comprehensive one by Hearnshaw,1 the present paper provides a thorough overview of this subject.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
DeVorkin, David H.;
(2006)
The Changing Place of Red Giant Stars in the Evolutionary Process
(/isis/citation/CBB000771282/)
Article
John Steele;
(2019)
An Early Compilation of Saturn Observations from Babylon
(/isis/citation/CBB365653299/)
Article
Gualandi, Andrea;
Bònoli, Fabrizio;
(2009)
The Search for Stellar Parallaxes and the Discovery of the Aberration of Light: The Observational Proofs of the Earth's Revolution, Eustachio Manfredi, and the “Bologna Case”
(/isis/citation/CBB000932195/)
Article
Nauenberg, Michael;
(2008)
Edmund C. Stoner and the Discovery of the Maximum Mass of White Dwarfs
(/isis/citation/CBB000930130/)
Article
Wesemael, François;
Racine, René;
(2008)
Why Was the Companion of Sirius Not Seen Prior to 1862?
(/isis/citation/CBB000930124/)
Article
Teichmann, Jūrgen;
Stinner, Arthur;
(2014)
From William Hyde Wollaston to Alexander von Humboldt---Star Spectra and Celestial Landscape
(/isis/citation/CBB001320983/)
Article
Wesemael, François;
Duchetto, Karl Del;
Racine, René;
(2011)
From J. Winthrop, Jr, to E. E. Barnard: The Arduous Path to the First Sighting of Amalthea
(/isis/citation/CBB001023561/)
Article
Hearnshaw, John;
(2010)
Auguste Comte's Blunder: An Account of the First Century of Stellar Spectroscopy and How It Took One Hundred Years to Prove that Comte Was Wrong!
(/isis/citation/CBB001034815/)
Article
Cenadelli, Davide;
(2010)
Solving the Giant Stars Problem: Theories of Stellar Evolution from the 1930s to the 1950s
(/isis/citation/CBB000932990/)
Book
Turatto, Massimo;
Benetti, Stefano;
Zampieri, Luca;
(2005)
1604--2004: Supernovae as Cosmological Lighthouses
(/isis/citation/CBB001232016/)
Article
Hoskin, Michael;
(2008)
Gravity and Light in the Newtonian Universe of Stars
(/isis/citation/CBB000930128/)
Article
Brémond, Alain;
Chabot, Hugues;
(2006)
À l'aube de la découverte de l'expansion de l'Univers: Les premières mesures de la vitesse radiale des nébuleuses spirales par Vesto Slipher (1912--1925)
(/isis/citation/CBB000931361/)
Article
Bradley E. Schaefer;
(2018)
Yes, Aboriginal Australians can and did discover the variability of Betelgeuse
(/isis/citation/CBB084427622/)
Article
Kollerstrom, Nicholas;
(2006)
An Hiatus in History: The British Claim for Neptune's Co-prediction, 1845--1846: Part I
(/isis/citation/CBB000651738/)
Thesis
Raposo, P.M.P.;
(cited 2010)
Polity, Precision and the Stellar Heavens: The Royal Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon (1857--1910)
(/isis/citation/CBB001567235/)
Book
Flavia Marcacci;
(2015)
Galileo Galilei: una storia da osservare
(/isis/citation/CBB978032143/)
Chapter
Tremble, Virginia;
(2006)
A History of GRBs and Other Astronomical Connundrums
(/isis/citation/CBB001232414/)
Article
Martin Connors;
(2024)
The discovery and naming of Trojan asteroids
(/isis/citation/CBB700468449/)
Article
S. Balachandra Rao;
Rupa K.;
Padmaja Venugopal;
(2016)
Heliacal Rising of Canopus in Indian Astronomy
(/isis/citation/CBB130624835/)
Chapter
Fantham, Elaine;
(2011)
More Sentiment than Science: Roman Stargazing before and after Manilius
(/isis/citation/CBB001201028/)
Be the first to comment!