HERTZSPRUNG

Ejnar Hertzsprung was a PhD graduate from Wilhelm Ostwald. Hertzsprung was a chemist and an astronomer somehow. Hertzsprung was maybe the first astronomer to identify stars by their spectral emission lines. He classified stars by their spectral type. Today's planet hunters use the spectral emission lines and bands of the water molecule to determine if planets they have discovered contain water vapor. It is unusual and unexpected that Ostwald would be thesis advisor to an astronomer, but the MGP reveals that it happened. Hertzsprung had several equally important astronomer PhD students after 1900, and on in to the WWI and WWII periods. He was responsible for identifying and classifying many types of stars and astronomical objects. Hertzsprung's career extended from about 1900 to the middle of the 20th century. The story of Hertzsprung and Ostwald is an unusual twist to the life of the famous chemist Ostwald.