Quantum Physics and the Stars (II): Henry Norris Russell and the Abundances of the Elements in the Atmospheres of the Sun and Stars

DeVorkin David H. and Kenat Ralph , “Quantum physics and the stars (I): The establishment of a stellar temperature scale”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xiv (1983), 102–32.

Ball R. S. , “The nebular theory”, Royal institution library of science: Astronomy, ii, ed. by Lovell B. (London, 1970), 33 (lecture dated 16 May 1902).

Rowland H. A. , “Report on progress in spectrum work”, American journal of science, xli (1891), 243–4.

See Young C. A. , The Sun, rev. edn (London, 1910), 86–88; Ball R. S. , The story of the Sun (London, 1901), 118–19.

Clerke Agnes M. , Problems in astrophysics (London, 1903), 32 (emphasis in original).

See Fison A. H. , Recent advances in astronomy (London, 1898), 188; Proctor R. A. and Raynard A. C. , Old and new astronomy (London, 1892), 368, note 2; Rowland H. A. , op. cit. (ref. 3), and Physical papers (Baltimore, 1902), 523; Maunder E. W. , Sir William Huggins and spectroscopic astronomy (1913; reprinted, Sidcup, Kent, 1980), 89.

Russell H. N. , “The solar spectrum and the Earth's crust”, Science, n. s., xxxix (1914), 791–4, p. 792.

Ibid., 794.

Russell H. N. to Abbe C. (3 July 1914), Henry Norris Russell papers, Princeton University Library (hereafter referred to as “Russell papers”).

See DeVorkin D. H. , “The origins of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram”, In memory of Henry Norris Russell, ed. by Philip A. G. D. and DeVorkin D. H. (Albany, New York, 1977), 61–78.

Fowler Alfred (untitled review), Journal of the British Astronomical Association, xxviii (1918), 197–204, p. 204.

DeVorkin and Kenat , op. cit. (ref. 1).

Dingle Herbert , “Prof. Alfred Fowler, C.B.E., F.R.S.”, Nature, cxlvi (1940), 86–88.

Saha M. N. , “Elements in the Sun”, Philosophical magazine, xl (1920), 809–24, p. 811.

Saha M. N. , “On a physical theory of stellar spectra”, Proceedings of the Royal Society, A xcix (1921), 135–53, p. 150.

Ibid., 150–1. Hydrogen had an established history of being a problem. It was the first to be analysed in detail and was the first to yield to series formulations discovered by Balmer and extended by Rydberg. E. C. Pickering's discovery of a second hydrogen series in hot stars became another hydrogen problem that was solved by Bohr who showed that it was caused by ionized helium, rather than hydrogen.

Russell H. N. to Saha M. N. (3 August 1921), Russell papers. See also: Russell H. N. , “The properties of matter as illustrated by the stars”, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, xxxiii (1921), 275–90, pp. 281–2; “Rubidium in the Sun”, ibid., 202–4, p. 202. As noted, Russell was incorrect in stating that lines in the hottest stars were due to hydrogen. Ionized helium is the primary element visible. See Harwit Martin , Astrophysical concepts (New York, 1973), 516.

Saha M. N. , “On the temperature ionization of elements of the higher groups in the periodic classification”, Philosophical magazine, s.6, xliv (1922), 1128–39, p. 1130.

Russell H. N. to Saha M. N. (23 June 1922), Russell papers.

Plaskett H. H. , “The spectra of three O-type stars”, Publications of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, i (1922), 325–86; see Table 17, p. 375. Plaskett's rôle requires further attention, as does Pannekoek's. See for instance Pannekoek A. , “Ionization in stellar atmospheres”, Bulletin of the astronomical institutes of the Netherlands, i (1922), 107–18.

Russell H. N. , “Ionization and pressure in the reversing layers of the stars”, Popular astronomy, xxxi (1923), 22–24. A search of Russell's working files revealed a rough draft of this abstract which was identical in content to the published abstract. No record of his full text has been located.

d'Escort Atkinson Robert , “Note on the pressure in the reversing layer in stars”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxii (1922), 396–402, p. 396. See also R. Atkinson Oral History Interview, American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics.

Payne Cecilia H. , Stellar atmospheres (Harvard College Observatory monograph no. 1; Cambridge, Mass., 1925), 29–31.

Fowler R. H. and Milne E. A. , “The intensities of absorption lines in stellar spectra, and the temperatures and pressures in the reversing layers of stars”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxiii (1923), 403–24, pp. 404, 424.

Payne Cecilia , “Astrophysical data bearing on the relative abundance of the elements”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, xi (1925), 192–8, pp. 192–3.

Kidwell P. , “Introduction”, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, The dyer's hand, p. 11 of manuscript introduction. We are indebted to Peggy Kidwell for allowing us to read a draft of her introduction to Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin's manuscript autobiography.

Payne , op. cit. (ref. 25), 193.

Ibid., 196.

Ibid., 197.

Russell H. N. and Compton K. T. , “A possible explanation of the behaviour of the hydrogen lines in giant stars”, Nature, cxiv (1924), 86–87, p. 86.

Russell H. N. to Payne Cecilia (14 January 1925), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. , “A list of ultimate and penultimate lines of astrophysical interest”, Astrophysical journal, lxi (1925), 223–83.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 31).

Payne-Gaposchkin , The dyer's hand (ref. 26), p. 67 of the manuscript autobiography. See also Gingerich Owen , “Henry Draper's scientific legacy”, Symposium on the Orion Nebula to honor Henry Draper (Annals of the New York Academy of sciences, cccxcv (1982)), 308–20, p. 319.

Struve Otto and Zebergs Velta , Astronomy of the twentieth century (New York, 1962), 220–1; Payne Cecilia , op. cit. (ref. 23).

Russell and Compton , op. cit. (ref. 30), 86.

Ibid.

McCrea W. H. , “The hydrogen chromosphere”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxix (1929), 483–97, p. 483; McCrea W. H. , “A note on the hydrogen chromosphere”, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, xxiv (1928), 506–15; Pike S. R. , “On the chromospheric currents above a sunspot”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxvii (1927), 56–61.

Rosseland Svein , “On the distribution of hydrogen in a star”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxv (1925), 541–6, p. 541, note. This comment by Rosseland may have been the source of Russell's comments in his textbook Astronomy regarding the origin of the chief nebular lines, which, as Richard Hirsh has indicated, was the source of Bowen's own interest in solving the long standing problem. See Hirsh Richard , “The riddle of the gaseous nebulae”, Isis, lxx (1979), 197–212, p. 209, note 78.

Ibid., 541.

Rosseland Svein , “The theory of the stellar absorption coefficient”, Astrophysical journal, lxi (1925), 424–42, p. 441.

James Jeans developed an alternative to Eddington's theory of stellar constitution which we have not discussed here. Jeans's theory of liquid stars also prohibited the possibility of a large amount of hydrogen. In fact, Jeans argued that the stars must be composed of very heavy substances not found on Earth and that the stars generate energy by means of the fission of these substances. See Jeans James , “Stellar opacity and the atomic weight of stellar matter”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxvi (1926), 561–74.

See Hufbauer Karl , “Astronomers take up the stellar-energy problem, 1917–1920”, Historical studies in the physical sciences, xi (1981), 277–303.

Eddington A. S. , The internal constitution of the stars (London, 1926), 245. 1–β represents the ratio of the radiation pressure to the total pressure in the stellar interior.

Eddington A. S. , Stars and atoms (Oxford, 1927), 22.

In order to calculate the mean molecular weight of an ionized substance the number of free electrons must be taken into account. The mean molecular weight is the total atomic weight divided by the total number of free electrons plus one (for the remaining nucleus). Larger and heavier atoms also have more electrons which are liberated in the ionizing process. As a result all substances have approximately the same mean molecular weight when ionized. In the conditions typical of the interiors of stars this mean molecular weight is approximately 2.1. Hydrogen and helium are exceptions to this rule, however; hydrogen has a mean molecular weight of 0.5 when ionized and helium 1.3.

Eddington A. S. , “The interior of a star”, Royal institution library of science: Astronomy, ii, ed. by Lovell B. (London, 1970), 256–7 (lecture dated 23 February 1923).

Eddington , op. cit. (ref. 44), 159.

Payne-Gaposchkin , op. cit. (ref. 34), 67.

Russell H. N. , “The problem of stellar evolution”, Nature, cxvi (1925), 209–12, p. 209.

Russell H. N. to Glanville Rev. W. E. (30 September 1924), Russell papers.

Eddington A. S. , “On the relation between the masses and luminosities of the stars”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxiv (1924), 308–22.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 50), 210.

Fowler R. H. and Guggenheim E. A. , “Application of statistical mechanics to determine the properties of matter in stellar interiors. Part I: The mean molecular weight”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxv (1925), 939–60, p. 940.

Eddington A. S. , “The absorption of radiation inside a star”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lxxxiv (1924), 104–23; Kramers H. , “On the theory of X-ray absorption of the continuous X-ray spectrum”, Philosophical magazine, xlvi (1923), 836–71.

Rosseland , op. cit. (ref. 41), 439.

Ibid., 440.

Ibid., 441–2.

Ibid., 442.

Strömgren Bengt , “The opacity of stellar matter and the hydrogen content of the stars”, Zeitschrift für Astrophysik, iv (1932), 118–53.

Bengt Strömgren Oral History Interviews: 1. with Hufbauer K. , pp. 7–8; 2. with Hoddeson L. , p. 33. American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics.

Payne-Gaposchkin , op. cit. (ref. 34), 77.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 31).

White Harvey E. , Introduction to atomic spectra (New York, 1934), 118–19; Sommerfeld Arnold , Atomic structure and spectral lines (Eng. trans., London, 1934), 523–4.

Sommerfeld Arnold and Heisenberg Werner , “Intensität der mehrfach Linien und ihrer Zeeman Komponenten”, Zeitschrift für Physik, xi (1922), 131–54.

Landé Alfred , “Termstruktur und Zeemaneffekt der Multipletts”, Zeitschrift für Physik, xv (1923), 189–205; Herzberg Gerhard , Atomic spectra and atomic structure (Eng. trans., 2nd edn, New York, 1944), 109–10. At the time these “parts” consisted of the valence electrons and the “Rumpf” which was the nucleus plus the inner electrons. The angular momenta interacted according to the laws of classical physics plus some special quantum rules. In the next few years physical considerations would force the quantum theorists to identify the angular momentum of the Rumpf with the spin of the electrons.

Russell H. N. and Saunders F. A. , “New regularities in the spectra of the alkaline earths”, Astrophysical journal, lxi (1925), 38–69. An historical study of the origins of this paper is presently in progress.

Meggers William to Russell H. N. (29 April 1925), Russell papers.

Shapley Harlow to Russell H. N. (4 May 1925), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. , “The intensities of lines in multiplets”, Nature, cxv (1925), 835–6.

Russell H. N. , “The intensities of lines in multiplets”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, xi (1925), 314–28, p. 328.

Russell H. N. to Meggers William (21 May 1925), Russell papers.

Stewart John Q. , “The width of absorption lines in a rarefied gas”, Astrophysical journal, lix (1924), 30–36.

Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (1 November 1922), Russell papers.

Milne E. A. to Russell H. N. (22 September 1925), Russell papers.

See Menzel Donald H. , “The history of astronomical spectroscopy, II: Quantitative chemical analysis and the structure of the solar atmosphere”, International conference on education in and history of modern astronomy, ed. by Berendzen R. (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, cxcviii (1972)), 225–44, p. 237.

Stewart John Q. , “Notes on ionization in the stars”, Popular astronomy, xxxi (February 1923), 88.

Stewart John Q. , “The effect of temperature gradient on the intensities of the Fraunhofer lines”, Publications of the American Astronomical Society, v (1924), 275–6.

Russell H. N. and Stewart John Q. , “Pressures at the Sun's surface”, Astrophysical journal, lix (1924), 197–209.

Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (24 June 1924; 18 February 1925), Russell papers.

Ibid., 18 February letter.

Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (22 June 1925), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. to Milne E. A. (5 October 1925), Russell papers.

Moore Charlotte E. and Russell H. N. , “On the winged lines in the solar spectrum”, Astrophysical journal, lxiii (1926), 1–12, p. 1.

Ibid., 12.

Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (29 September 1925), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. Dugan Raymond and Stewart John Q. , Astronomy (2 vols, Boston, 1926; 1927).

Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (25 October 1925), Russell papers. The list Russell and Stewart prepared appeared in Astronomy, ii (Table VIII, p. 503). In their discussion of abundances, they adhered to the concept of the similarity between the Earth's crust and the solar atmosphere, noting that it was “strongly indicated” and that Kirchhoff and Rowland had been of this opinion (p. 502).

Stewart John Q. , “A theory of production of dark lines in stellar spectra” (abstract), Popular astronomy, xxxvi (1928), 346.

See Russell H. N. to Payne Cecilia , op. cit. (ref. 31); Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (28 October 1925), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. Adams W. S. and Moore C. E. , “A calibration of Rowland's intensity scale for solar lines”, Popular astronomy, xxxvi (1928), 295.

Adams W. S. to Russell H. N. (4 October 1925), Russell papers.

Moore Charlotte to Russell H. N. (26 July 1926), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. to Meggers W. (1 December 1925), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. , “On the calculation of the spectroscopic terms derived from equivalent electrons”, Physical review, xxix (1927), 782–9.

Russell H. N. Adams W. S. and Moore C. E. , “A calibration of Rowland's scale of intensities for solar lines”, Astrophysical journal, lxviii (1928), 1–8, p. 3.

Russell H. N. , The composition of the stars (Oxford, 1933), 15 (Russell's Halley Lecture delivered on 1 June 1933).

Russell Adams and Moore , op. cit. (ref. 96), 8.

Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (25 October 1927), Russell papers.

Adams W. S. and Russell H. N. , “Preliminary results of a new method for the analysis of stellar spectra”, Astrophysical journal, lxviii (1928), 9–36.

Ibid., 9.

Ibid., 12.

Ibid., 35.

Dunham Theodore to Russell H. N. (5 October 1927), Theodore Dunham Papers, American Institute of Physics.

Russell H. N. to Dunham T. (11 October 1927), Theodore Dunham Papers, American Institute of Physics.

Russell H. N. , “On the composition of the Sun's atmosphere”, Astrophysical journal, lxx (1929), 11–82, p. 79.

Eddington A. S. to Russell H. N. (18 September 1928), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. to Eddington A. S. (15 October 1928), Russell papers.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 106), 74–75.

Eddington A. S. to Russell H. N. (20 November 1928), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. to Eddington A. S. (3 December 1928), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. to Dunham T. (27 October 1927), Theodore Dunham Papers, American Institute of Physics.

See Strömgren Bengt , “The growth of our knowledge of the physics of the stars”, chap. 5 in Hynek J. A. (ed.), Astrophysics, a topical symposium (New York, 1951), 172–258, pp. 224–6. See also: Unsöld Albrecht , “Über die Struktur der Fraunhoferschen Linien und die Dynamik der Sonnenchromosphäre”, Zeitschrift für Physik, xliv (1927), 793–809; Albrecht Unsöld Oral History Interview, American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics; Unsöld Albrecht , “Introduction: A fifty years retrospect”, Les éléments et leurs isotopes dans l'universe (Université d'Liège Institut d'astrophysique, 1979), 9.

See Ladenburg R. and Reich F. , “Absorption, Zerstreung und Dispersion in der Bohrschen Atomtheorie”, Naturwissenschaften, xi (1923), 584–98; and Minkowski R. , “Naturlich Breit und Druckverbreiterung von Spektrallinien”, Zeitschrift für Physik, xxxvi (1926), 839–58.

Unsöld Albrecht , “Über die Struktur der Fraunhoferschen Linien und die quantitative Spektralanalyse der Sonnenatmosphäre”, Zeitschrift für Physik, xlvi (1928), 765–81; Unsöld A. to DeVorkin D. H. (10 October 1981).

Unsöld , ibid., 781; Albrecht Unsöld Oral History Interview, American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics, 13.

McCrea W. H. , “The hydrogen chromosphere” (ref. 38). McCrea recalls that after 1928 his “personal conviction was that the Sun and the stars are effectively all hydrogen. I may not have written much about it in a general context, but I used to argue a bit about it with E. A. Milne” (letter, McCrea W. H. to DeVorkin D. H. , 11 July 1983). This recollection is confirmed by a statement made by Milne; see Milne E. A. , “The structure and opacity of a stellar atmosphere”, Philosophical transactions, ccxxviii (1930), 421–61, p. 460.

Russell H. N. to Menzel D. H. (9 October 1928), Russell papers.

Menzel , op. cit. (ref. 76), 243.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 106), 71. See Menzel D. H. , “Structure of the solar chromosphere”, Popular astronomy, xxxvi (1928), 603–4.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 106), 72.

Stratton F. J. M. (ed.), Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, iii (Cambridge, 1929), 234–5.

Russell H. N. to Adams W. S. (25 March 1929), Russell papers.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 106), 35.

Ibid., Table VIII, 36.

Ibid., 22.

Unsöld A. to DeVorkin D. H. (8 August 1981).

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 106), 63–64.

Ibid., 59.

Ibid., 65.

Ibid., 79.

Russell H. N. , “The place of approximate methods in astronomy”, Publications of the American Astronomical Society, ix (1937), 108–14, p. 111.

Ornstein L. S. to Dunham Theodore (22 November 1927), Theodore Dunham Papers, American Institute of Physics.

Plaskett H. H. to Unsöld Albrecht (31 March 1929), Theodore Dunham Papers, American Institute of Physics.

Unsöld Albrecht to DeVorkin D. H. (10 October 1981).

Menzel D. H. , “A study of the solar chromosphere”, Publications of the Lick Observatory, xvii, pt 1 (Berkeley, 1931), 1–303, p. 217.

Menzel D. H. , “Pressures at the base of the chromosphere: A critical study of Milne's theories”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, xci (1931), 628–52. See pp. 640, 650, 651, and 652.

Menzel D. H. , “Temperature gradients and molecular weight in the Sun's atmosphere”, The observatory, liii (1930), 344–5.

Milne E. A. , “Bakerian lecture—the structure and opacity of a stellar atmosphere”, Philosophical transactions, ccxxviii (1930), 421–61.

Ibid., 460.

Milne E. A. , “Temperature gradients and molecular weights in the Sun's atmosphere”, The observatory, liii (1930), 119–20, p. 120.

Atkinson R. D'E. , “Reminiscences of Henry Norris Russell”, In memory of Henry Norris Russell, ed. by Philip A. G. D. and DeVorkin D. H. (Albany, New York, 1977), 19.

Atkinson R. D'E. , “Atomic synthesis and stellar energy. I”, Astrophysical journal, lxxiii (1931), 250–95, p. 254.

Unsöld Albrecht , “Über die Balmerserie des Wasserstoffs in Sonnen-spektrum”, Zeitschrift für Physik, lix (1930), 353–77.

Russell , op. cit. (ref. 106), 73.

Unsöld , op. cit. (ref. 144).

Ibid., 371.

Ibid., 372.

Unsöld Albrecht , Physik der Sternatmosphären (Berlin, 1938), 344.

Ibid., 347.

Minnaert M. G. J. , “Die Intensität innerhalt Fraunhoferschen Linien”, Zeitschrift für Physik, xlv (1927). 610–19.

Minnaert M. G. J. and van Assenbergh B. , “Intensitäts Messungen an Fraunhoferschen Linien”, Zeitschrift für Physik, liii (1929), 248–54.

Minnaert M. G. J. , “Forty years of solar spectroscopy”, The solar spectrum, ed. by de Jager C. (Dordrecht, 1965), 8.

Ibid.

Strömgren Bengt , “On the chemical composition of the solar atmosphere”, Festschrift für Ellis Strömgren (Copenhagen, 1940), 218.

See Chandrasekhar S. , “The structure, the composition, and the source of energy of the stars”, Astrophysics, a topical symposium, ed. by Hymek J. A. (New York, 1951), 616.

Russell H. N. to Eddington A. S. (5 February 1932), Russell papers.

Eddington A. S. to Russell H. N. (23 February 1932), Russell papers.

Eddington A. S. to Russell H. N. (8 March 1932), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. to Eddington A. S. (8 March 1932), Russell papers.

Russell H. N. to Eddington A. S. (22 March 1932), Russell papers.