Young Don Menzel's Amazing Adventures at Lick Observatory

Throughout this article the facts of Menzel's life, if not otherwise referenced, are taken from his Autobiography (1974), a 681-page double-spaced typescript (copies have been deposited at the Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics, College Park, Maryland, and the Harvard University Archives); Goldberg L. , “Donald Howard Menzel”, Sky & telescope, liii (1977), 249–51; L. Goldberg and LHA, “ Donald H. Menzel ”, Biographical memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, lx (1991), 149–68.

HCW, “The total eclipse of the Sun June 18, 1918”, PA, xxvi (1918), 285–91; HCW, “The total solar eclipse of June 18, 1918”, PA, xxvi (1918), 447–57; Frost E. B. , “Total solar eclipse June 18, 1918”, PA, xxvi (1918), 458–62; [HCW], “A brilliant new star”, PA, xxvi (1918), 489–93; HAH, Diary, entries of 22 Mar., 22, 27 May, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 June, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 July 1918, UDA.

DHM, “Herbert Alonzo Howe”, PASP, xxxviii (1926), 379–81.

HAH, Diary, entries of 5, 7 Feb., 23 Mar. 1920, UDA.

DHM to Bailey S. I. , 29 Apr. 1920, Bailey to DHM, 4 May 1920, HCO.

LC to DHM, 13 May 1920, DHM to LC, 21 May 1920, DHM, “Nomination” (Application for AAVSO membership), 21 May 1920, AAVSO.

DHM to LC, 7 Aug. 1920, AAVSO; LC, “Monthly report of the AAVSO Aug. 20 — Sep. 20, 1920”, PA, xxviii (1920), 543–55.

DHM, “Astronomer Don Menzel Predicts Comet before Close of Current Year”, Denver Clarion, 20 Nov. 1920, 1; HAH, Diary, entries of 21, 29 Apr., 9 May, 13 June 1921, UDA.

DHM to LC, [∼15] Mar. 1921, AAVSO. In his Autobiography Menzel, probably writing from memory, left Bailey out altogether, and gave Whaler much of the credit that Howe deserved for putting him in touch with eastern professional astronomers and the AAVSO. Menzel's letters to Bailey and Campbell, Howe's diary entries, cited in references 5, 6, 7, 8, and this reference, show that Menzel's chronology was faulty.

DHM to LC, 14 Sept., 25 Oct. 1921, LC to DHM, 6 Oct. 1921, AAVSO; Walker A. B. , “Monthly report of the AAVSO Sept. 20 to Oct. 20, 1921”, PA, xxix (1921), 646–62. Menzel is in the group picture of this meeting, facing p. 649, standing close to Leon Campbell, then AAVSO president.

[JS], “27th meeting” [of the AAS], PAAS, iv (1923), 303–5; HAH, Diary, entry for 30 Dec. 1921.

DHM to HS, 23 Nov. 1921, 12 Jan. 1922, HS to DHM, 25 Nov. 1921, 7 Jan. 1922, HCO; LC to DHM, 22 Apr. 1922, DHM to LC, 29 Apr., 13 May 1922, AAVSO.

HS, “Two thousand new nebulae”, HB, no. 773 (1922), 1; HS, “Group of new globular clusters”, HB, no. 775 (1922), 1; HS, “Approximate distance and dimensions of Large Magellanic Cloud”, HB, no. 775 (1922), 1–2; HS, “Five new planetary nebulae”, HB, no. 777 (1922), 3; HS, DHM, and LC Jr, “Descriptions and positions of 2,829 new nebulae”, HA, lxxxv (1924), 113–41.

HAH, Diary, entries of 5, 8 Sept., 2 Oct. 1922, UDA; [JS], “Twenty-eighth meeting” [of the AAS], PAAS, iv (1923), 335–8; DHM, “Distribution of two thousand new nebulae and distance of the Large Magellanic Cloud”, PAAS, iv (1923), 373–4.

DHM to HS, 22 Sept., 6, 11, 13 Oct., 2 Nov. 1922, HS to DHM, 30 Sept., 9, 14, 25, 1922, HCO.

DHM to HS, 14 Jan., 27 Feb. 1923, HCO, Eaton H. O. , “Monthly reports of the AAVSO April 20 to June 10, 1923”, PA, xxxi (1923), 475–92; DHM, “A spectroscopic note”, PA, xxxii (1924), 226; DHM, “A study of line intensities in stellar spectra”, HC, cclviii (1924), 1–20.

DHM, “Water-cell transmission and planetary temperatures”, ApJ, lviii (1923), 65–74; DHM, “The atmospheres of the outer planets”, PAAS, v (1927), 148.

DHM to HNR, 4 June 1923, PUL; HAH, Diary, entries of 17, 24 July, 2, 13 Aug., 1 Oct. 1923, UDA; [JS], “Thirtieth meeting” [of the AAS], PAAS, v (1927), 45–49.

DHM to HS, 28 May, 1 Oct. [1924], HCO; DHM to HNR, 26 June, 10 Oct. 1924, PUL; LC, “Monthly report of AAVSO for April 1925”, PA, xxxiii (1925), 395–405.

Manson E. S. to Moulton F. R. , 17 Apr. 1925, HS to Manson, 9 May 1925, DHM to Manson, 5 June 1925 (telegram and letter same date), OSU.

DHM to HNR, 8 Apr. 1925, PUL; DHM to HS, [3 June] (telegram), 5 June 1925, 28 Apr. 1926, HS to DHM, 4 June 1925 (telegram), HCO; DHM, WWCo, and COL, “Martian temperatures derived from water-cell transmissions”, PR, xxv (1925), 902; DHM, “The atmosphere of Mars”, ApJ, lxiii (1926), 48–59; DHM, WWCo, and COL, “Planetary temperatures derived from water-cell transmissions”, ApJ, lxiii (1926), 177–87.

DEO, Gustafson J. R. , and Unruh W. J. S. , Eye on the sky: Lick Observatory's first century (Berkeley, 1988) gives full background information on the observatory and its astronomers.

DEO, Yerkes Observatory, 1892–1950: The birth, near death, and resurrection of a scientific research institution (Chicago, 1997), 86–87, 118–26, 306–7.

[RGA] to HNR, 9 Mar. 1926, HNR to RGA, 15 Mar. 1926, 5 July 1927, SLO.

RGA to DHM, 24 Apr., 6 May 1926, DHM to RGA, 29 Apr. 1926, SLO.

DHM to WHW, 6 Nov. 1924, WHW to DHM, 21 Nov. 1924, SLO; DHM, “The atmosphere of Mars”, PAAS, v (1927), 268–9; see also ref. 21.

RGA to DHM, 25 May 1926, DHM to RGA, 18 July 1926, SLO; DHM, “The planetary nebulae”, PASP, xxxviii (1926), 295–318; DEO, “Herman Zanstra, Donald H. Menzel, and the Zanstra method of nebular astrophysics”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxii (2001), 93–108.

WWC, “The wavelength of the green coronal line, and other data resulting from an attempt to determine the law of rotation of the solar corona”, ApJ, x (1899), 186–92.

RGA to Carpenter E. F. , 24 Sept. 1925, 24 June, 1 Oct., 20 Dec. 1926, Carpenter to RGA, 14 Oct., 11 Dec. 1926, HNR to RGA, 13 Nov. 1926, SLO; Carpenter, “A photometric study of the flash spectrum”, LOB, xii (1927), 183–95.

DHM, “A study of the solar chromosphere based upon photographs of the flash spectrum taken by Dr. W. W. Campbell, director of the Lick Observatory at the total eclipses of the Sun in 1898, 1900, 1905, and 1908”, PLO, xvii (1931), Part 1, 1–303.

HNR to DHM, 27 Sept. 1926, 7, 21 Mar., 19 Dec. 1927, 9 Oct. 26 Nov. 1928, 13 Mar. 2 Apr., 6 May 1929, 8 Jan. 1931, 1 May 1932, DHM to HNR, 24 Feb., 15 Mar., 13 Dec. 1927, 24 Mar. 1929, 3 Jan. 1931, PUL.

RGA to Hawkes H. E. , 4 June 1930, SLO; DHM, “The history of astronomical spectroscopy II: Quantitative chemical analysis and the structure of the solar atmosphere”, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, cxcviii (1972), 235–44 (see esp. pp. 240–1).

RGA to DHM, 5 May, 23 Aug., 11 Sept. 1928, DHM to WWC, 28 June 1928, DHM to RGA, [5] Sept. 1928, 6 July 1929, DHM to LP, [∼15 Sept. 1928], SLO.

DHM, “Pressure at the base of the chromosphere: A critical study of Milne's theories”, MNRAS, xii (1931), 628–52.

DHM to WWC, 20 May 1927, WWC to DHM, 29 Dec. 1929, UCA.

JHM and DHM, “Preliminary results of spectrographic observations for rotation of Neptune”, PASP, xl (1928), 234–9; JHM and DHM, “The rotation of Uranus”, PASP, xlii (1930), 330–5.

DHM, “The spectra of Jupiter and Saturn”, PA, xxxv (1927), 489–90.

DHM, “Hydrogen abundance and the constitution of the major planets”, PASP, xlii (1930), 228–32.

RTB to [DH]M, 10 Dec. 1929; DHM, “The identification and cosmic abundance of carbon isotopes”, PASP, xlii (1930), 34–36; RTB and DHM, “The relation between of the oxygen isotopes, and the basis of the atomic weight system”, PR, xxxvii (1931), 1669–71.

DHM, Stars and planets: Exploring the universe (New York, 1932).

DHM, “The source of stellar energy”, Science, lxv (1927), 431–8; DHM, “Annihilation of matter as the source of stellar energy”, PASP, xliii (1931), 191–202.

Three examples are Don Home, “An inexpensive telescope”, Science and invention, xii (1924–25), 46; Charles T. Dahama , “The end of the world”, ibid., xii (1924–25), 126–7; Deachem Gene , “Will there be another ice age?”, ibid., xii (1925–26), 1196–7.

DHM to [RT]B, [∼15] Apr. [1932], BL.

RGA to AOL, 8 July, 11 Aug. 1927, AOL to RGA, 25 July, 18 Aug. 1927, 17 June 1931, DHM to AOL, 26 Oct. 1927, DHM to LP, 12 Jan. 1928, DHM to [WH]W, 14 May 1928, DHM to RGA, 25 Apr., 3 May 1928, 2 Dec. 1931, RGA to DHM, 17, 29 June, 2, 8 Sept. 1931, SLO.

FCS to DHM, 24 May 1927, DHM to RGA, 13 June 1927, 28 June, 12 Aug. 1928, [∼25 June 1931], Miranoff A. N. to “Director of Publicity”, 11 July 1928, [DHM] to L[P], 15 July [1928], SLO.

RGA to WSA, 20 May 1927, WSA to RGA, 23 May 1927, DHM to WSA, 26 Oct. 1928, WSA to DHM, 24 Apr. 1928, 14 July 1930, HHL.

DHM to RGA, 13 Apr. 1930, RGA to DHM, 17 Apr. 1930, SLO; JHM, “The Crocker eclipse expedition of the Lick Observatory to Camptonville, California, April 28, 1930”, PASP, xlii (1930), 131–40; DHM and JHM, “The green coronal line at the eclipse of April 28, 1930”, PASP, xlii (1930), 182–4.

Hayford P. , “A study of galactic rotation, with special reference to the radial velocities of the galactic star clusters”, LOB, xvi (1932), 53–75.

DHM to RGA, 16 Mar. 1928, RGA to DHM, 20 Mar. 1928, [RGA] to OCW, 13, 18 Mar. 1929, OCW to RGA, 14 Mar. 1929, SLO; DHM to WWC, 28 Feb. [1929], FCS “Memo”, 15 Apr. 1929, RGA to WWC, 23 Apr. 1929, UCA; Preston G. W. , “Olin C. Wilson (1909–1994)”, PASP, cvii (1995), 97–103; DEO, interview of OCW, 13 Mar. 1986.

DHM to RGA, 16 Mar., 6 June 1933, 16 Jan., 25 Oct. 1934, RGA to DHM, 26 May 1933, 8 Nov. 1934, SLO; DEO, “Louis Berman, 1903–1997”, BAAS, xxix (1997), 1468–9; see also ref. 22, esp. pp. 212–13.

Roman N. G. , “Charlotte Moore Sitterly”, BAAS, xxiii (1991), 1492–4. See also ref. 22, esp. pp. 192–3.

FLW, “A spectrophotometric study of the Cepheid variables η Aquilae and δ Cephei”, LOB, xvi (1932), 1–23; FLW, The collected contributions of Fred L. Whipple (Cambridge, 1972). See also ref. 22, esp. pp. 212–13.

LHA, “An astronomical rescue”, Annual review of astronomy and astrophysics, xxxiii (1995), 1–17. Menzel in his Autobiography and C. D. Shane in his Autobiography, both of whom were directly involved in these events, have left accounts of their own which agree closely with Aller's.

DHM to HNR, 23 Dec. 1930, 23 Jan., 3 Feb. 1931, DHM to HNR and RSD, 22 Jan. 1931 (two telegrams same date), DHM to RSD, 24 Jan. 1931, HNR to DHM, 23, 28 Jan. 1931, 27 June 1932, RSD to DHM, 23, 29 Jan. 1931 (both telegrams), PUL; DHM to HS, 8 Mar. 1930, HS to DHM, 13, 28 Mar. 1930, HCO.

DHM to HNR, 25 Apr. 1932, PUL.

DHM to HNR, [∼23 June 1923], PUL; HS to RGA, 20 June 1923, [RGA] to HS, 23 June 1932, SLO; DHM to RGS, 6 July 1932, RGA to RGS, 7 July 1932, UCA.

Deutsch M. to [RGS], 5, 16 July 1932, UCA.

JHM, “The Lick Observatory-Crocker eclipse expedition to Fryeburg, Maine, August 31, 1932”, PASP, xliv (1932), 341–60.

FLW to RGS, 22 Apr. 1931, FLW to RGA, 24 June 1931, 13 Jan. 1932, HS to RGA, 8 Nov. 1932, SLO.

DHM, “The Harvard-M.I.T. eclipse expedition”, PASP, xlviii (1936), 164–7; DHM and Boyce J. C. , “Eclipse at Ak Bulak”, [MIT] Technology review, xxxix (1936), 19–44; DHM, Boyce J. C. , Hammindinger H. , Atkinson R. d'E. , and Brode W. R. , “The design and construction of the Harvard-MIT 1936 eclipse equipment”, HA, cv (1937), 87–98; Petrie W. and DHM, “The wave lengths of new coronal lines”, ApJ, xcvi (1942), 395–8.

[RGA] to HS, 9, 21 July 1932, HS to RGA, 14 July 1932, DHM to RGA, 1 Aug., 4 Oct. 1932, RGA to DHM, 6 Aug., 16 Sept., 11 Oct 1932, SLO.

DHM to RGA, 11 Oct. 1933, 16 Mar., 25 May 1934, RGA to DHM, 16 Oct. 1933, 24 Jan., 21 Mar. 1934, SLO.

DHM, “SS Cygni magnitude estimates” [report giving dates, times and magnitudes of 59 individual observations], AAVSO; LC, “Monthly reports of the AAVSO for July and August 1934”, PA, xlii (1934), 440–64.

DHM to WHW, 9 Mar. 1938, SLO; DHM, “In honor of William Wallace Campbell”, The telescope, v (1938), 57–62.

D[HM] to N[U. Mayall], 2, 6 Apr. 1954, Mayall to DHM, 6 Apr., 17, 20 May, 24 June 1954, “Report on the Harvard College Observatory instruments” [∼24 June 1954], Baustian W. W. , “II. The engineering aspects”, 28 Jan. 1955, SLO.

DHM, “William Wallace Campbell”, Dictionary of American biography, xi/8 (1958), 91–93. The IAU certificate thanking Mary Shane has hung on a wall in the Mary Lea Shane Archives of the Lick Observatory since soon after her death in 1986.

Bowen I. S. and DHM, PASP, xl (1928), 332–40.

DHM, “The deviation of stellar atmospheres from thermodynamic equilibrium”, PASP, xlii (1930), 113–17.

DHM to HNR, 24 Mar. 1929, PUL.

DHM, “The dilution of radiation in a nebula”, PASP, xliii (1931), 70–74.

DHM and Pekeris C. L. , “Absorption coefficients and hydrogen-line intensities”, MNRAS, xlvi (1935), 77–111; Cillié G. G. and DHM, “The interpretation of chromospheric spectra”, PAAS, viii (1935), 139–40; Cillié and DHM, “The physical state of the solar chromosphere”, HC, no. 410 (1935), 1–40; Cillié and DHM, “Hydrogen emission in the chromosphere”, ApJ, lxxxviii (1937), 88–106.

DHM (ed). Selected papers on physical processes in ionized plasmas (New York, 1962) contains reprints of all eighteen papers in the series “Physical processes in gaseous nebulae”, plus numerous other papers on nebular astrophysics by Menzel and his collaborators. The first and last papers in the series are: DHM, “Absorption and emission of radiation”, ApJ, lxxxv (1937), 330–9, LHA and DHM, “The chemical composition of the planetary nebulae”, ApJ, cii (1945), 239–63.

DHM, “The internal constitution of giant M stars”, Physica, xii (1946), 768–74.