Allan Sandage

97089

Allan Sandage has been a staff member of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington since 1952, when that organization was part of the Hale Observatories, which at that time comprised the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories. Credited with discovering (in collaboration with Thomas A. Matthews) the first quasar, he has also investigated stellar evolution, age dating of the stars, and the formation of our galaxy. He also led one of two international teams of astronomers who used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to arrive at an accurate measurement of the universe's rate of expansion. Sandage received his AB degree in physics from the University of Illinois in 1948, and his PhD at Caltech in 1953. He also holds honorary doctorates from Yale, the University of Chicago, USC, and four other institutions. A member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Lincei National Academy (Rome), and the American Philosophical Society, Sandage has also served as a consultant or advisory committee member for such organizations as the National Science Foundation and the National Research Council. He was a Fulbright-Hays Scholar in Australia in 1972-73, and has been an invited lecturer at numerous universities, including Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, and the Enrico Fermi School of Physics in Varenna, Italy. His many honors and awards include the Helen B. Warner Prize (1958) and the Russell Prize (1973), both bestowed by the American Astronomical Society; the National Medal of Science (1971); and the Crafoord Prize (1991).