Leif Erland Andersson

Leif Erland Andersson (4 November 1943 – 4 May 1979) was a Swedish astronomer.[1][2]

Leif Erland Andersson
Born4 November 1943
Falkenberg, Halland County, Sweden
Died4 May 1979(1979-05-04) (aged 35)
Falkenberg, Halland County, Sweden
NationalitySwedish]
EducationPh.D.
Alma materLund University, Indiana University Bloomington
OccupationAstronomer
Spouse(s)Gloria Ptacek

Early life

Andersson had been a child prodigy who won the Swedish television quiz show 10.000-kronorsfrågan ("The 10,000 Kronor Question") twice, the first time at age 16.[3]

From his late teen years, he was also a well-known science fiction fan in Sweden, who chaired the MalCon in 1966 in Malmö[4] and took over editing the pioneering Swedish science fiction amateur journal, the Scandinavian Amateur Press Alliance (SAPA) after John-Henri Holmberg left the position some time after 1964.[5]

Professional career

Andersson studied astronomy at Lund University,[6] but received a scholarship to San Michele Observatory in on the island of Anacapri in Sicily in 1968.[7]

He studied the work of Professor Åke Wallenquist,[8] at Uppsala University. Andersson later went to Indiana University Bloomington to complete his Ph.D. degree. While there, he married Gloria Ptacek in 1973 at the Beck Chapel of Indiana University.[9]

Andersson was hired in a post-doctoral research associate position in the summer of 1973 by Dr. Gerard Kuiper[10] at the Lunar & Planetary Laboratory[11] of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Andersson calculated the first observable transits of Pluto and Charon[12] in the early 1980s, but did not live to see them.[13]

He mapped the far side of the moon in NASA's Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature, with co-author Ewen Whitaker, published in 1982.[14]

Death

Leif Andersson died from lymphatic cancer at the age of 35 on 4 May 1979. He was survived by his wife, Gloria Lee Andersson (née Ptacek).

Honors

The crater Andersson on the Moon was named in his memory.[15]

In honor of Leif Andersson's work on the determination of Pluto's pole position, the Spacewatch Asteroid Project at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory named the asteroid 9223 Leifandersson on 24 January 2000 (M.P.C. 38198).[1][16]

References
  1. "9223 Leifandersson (1995 YY7)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  2. "Svenskar på månens yta" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  3. Gradvall, Jan (2009). Tusen svenska klassiker: böcker, filmer, skivor, tv-program från 1956 till i dag (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. ISBN 978-91-1-301717-4.
  4. Roimola, Ben. "Sven Christer Swahn är död". Enhörningen (Unicorn). Enhörningen Magazine. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  5. Lynch, Richard. "Chapter 5: Notable Fanzines of the 1960s". Fan History Book of the 1960s. The Joe Phan Organization. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  6. "Lund University Astrophysics program". Lund University. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  7. Öhman, Yngve (1968). "Experiences from 16 Years of Solar Work in Anacapri". Solar Physics. The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System. 4 (4): 493. Bibcode:1968SoPh....4..493O. doi:10.1007/BF00147916. S2CID 122864384. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  8. "Åke Wallenquist (1904-1994)". Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University. Uppsala University. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  9. "Need help: Add cite to show married to Leif Erland Andersson on Project:Support desk". www.mediawiki.org. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  10. "Gerard P. Kuiper Biography". Gerard P. Kuiper Papers. University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  11. "Lunar and Planetary Laboratory home page". Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Univ. of Arizona. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  12. "Charon Overview". NASA Solar System Exploration: Charon Overview site. NASA. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  13. Jones, Barry W. "Pluto: Sentinel of the Outer Solar System". Cambridge UP Catalogue. Cambridge University Press. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  14. Andersson, Leif; Whitaker, Ewen. "NASA catalogue of lunar nomenclature". NASA Technical Reports Server. NASA. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  15. "Leif Erland Andersson". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  16. "Minor Planet Center Circular" (PDF). Minor Planet Center. 24 January 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
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