Hubert Reeves, CC OQ, a Canadian astrophysicist and populariser of science, born on 13 July, 1932. He was a professor in the physics department at the University of Montreal from 1960 to 1964, all the while serving as a consultant for the Institute for Space Studies in New York. In 1965, he became the Director of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (“National Science Research Centre”) in Paris and a scientific consultant for the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (“Nuclear Energy Commission”) in Saclay, France. Reeves studies the thermonuclear reactions that occur in stars; that is, the reactions that create the chemical elements that make up matter. Since 1962, his work has focused on nuclear reactions involving carbon and oxygen. He also focuses part of his research on neutrinos, a type of subatomic particle that we still know very little about. In 1967, he became increasingly interested in the origin of the light elements lithium, beryllium and boron. The very high temperatures that occur inside stars would destroy these three elements, so they must form elsewhere, namely out in space. In 1968, he published Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis, and in 1972 he wrote Nuclear Reactions in Stellar Surfaces and their Relations with Stellar Evolution. In 1971, Reeves helped demonstrate, along with other colleagues, that a process known as “spallation” creates lithium, beryllium and boron. In 1972, Reeves collaborated with Johannes Geiss to explain the origin of two other light elements: deuterium and helium-3. The test for their hypothesis was made possible by experiments conducted during the Apollo moon missions, and the results also allowed them to estimate the density of normal matter in the Universe. In 1977, Reeves published Soleil (“Sun”), his first popular science book. Four years later, in 1981, he wrote another, Patience dans l’azur (“Patience in the Sky”), about the different steps in the formation of the Universe. Another 15 or so popular astronomy books were published in the years to follow, some with co-authors. Asteroid 9631 was named in his honour. Reference: astro-canada.ca/_en/a2211.php, Retrieved 22 July, 2011
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 04:31:39 +0000
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