Gerard van Belle

Gerard Theodore van Belle (born 1968, in Tallahassee, FL) is an American astronomer. He is an expert in optical (visible and near-infrared) astronomical interferometry.

Gerard Theodore van Belle
Born (1968-10-30) 30 October 1968
Tallahassee, Florida
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Wyoming, Johns Hopkins University, Whitman College
Known forThe use of interferometry in studies of the stellar structure and detection of extrasolar planets.
Awards2002 Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsLowell, ESO, Caltech, JPL, St. Mary's College of Maryland
ThesisAngular Size Measurements of Highly Evolved Stars (1996)
Doctoral advisorH. Mel Dyck

Education

van Belle received a bachelor's degree in physics from Whitman College in 1990, a master's degree in physics from The Johns Hopkins University in 1993, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wyoming in 1996. While at Whitman College, he initiated as a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity as was Gerard Cecil de Van de mere in the 1960s.

Career

After schooling, van Belle took a position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an instrument architect for NASA's Keck Interferometer, and later joined the Michelson Science Center (now NASA Exoplanet Science Institute) at Caltech in 2003. He has participated in the commissioning of the Palomar Testbed Interferometer, and the CHARA Array. In 2007, he became a member of the astronomy faculty at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and instrument scientist for the PRIMA instrument of ESO's VLTI facility; later in early 2011 he was also appointed instrument scientist for the MATISSE instrument of the VLTI. Since August 2011 he has been a member of the astronomer faculty at Lowell Observatory. In May 2017 he was appointed the Director of the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI), and after a one-year tenure became Chief Scientist for the facility. NPOI is a joint program between partners Lowell Observatory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the US Naval Observatory.

Research

van Belle utilized near-infrared astronomical interferometers to measure the sizes of hundreds of nearby stars.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The first direct measurement of stellar shape was carried out by a team led by him using the Palomar Testbed Interferometer to make observations of the rapidly rotating star Altair.[7] He also contributed to practical considerations of operating astronomical interferometers, particularly regarding considerations of calibration of these complicated instruments[8] [9] .[10]

Leadership

van Belle served as President of the International Astronomical Union's Commission 54 on Optical and Infrared Interferometry, for 2012-2015, after terms as Vice President (2009-2012) and Secretary (2006-2009).

Honors, awards and accolades

Asteroid 25155 van Belle is named for him.[11]

References
  1. Dyck, H. M., van Belle, G. T., & Benson, J. A. (1996). "Angular Diameters and Effective Temperatures of Carbon Stars". Astronomical Journal. 112: 294. Bibcode:1996AJ....112..294D. doi:10.1086/118014.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. van Belle; G. T.; et al. (1996). "Angular Size Measurements of 18 Mira Variable Stars at 2.2 microns". Astronomical Journal. 112: 2147. Bibcode:1996AJ....112.2147V. doi:10.1086/118170.
  3. van Belle; G. T.; et al. (1997). "Angular Size Measurements of Carbon Miras and S-Type Stars". Astronomical Journal. 114: 2150. Bibcode:1997AJ....114.2150V. doi:10.1086/118635.
  4. van Belle, G.T.; et al. (1999). "Radii and Effective Temperatures for G, K, and M Giants and Supergiants". The Astronomical Journal. 117 (1): 521–533. Bibcode:1999AJ....117..521V. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.21.9648. doi:10.1086/300677.
  5. van Belle, G.T.; et al. (2009). "Supergiant temperatures and linear radii from near-infrared interferometry". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 394 (4): 1925–1935. arXiv:0811.4239. Bibcode:2009MNRAS.394.1925V. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14146.x. S2CID 118372600.
  6. van Belle, G. T., & von Braun, K. (2009). "Directly Determined Linear Radii and Effective Temperatures of Exoplanet Host Stars". Astrophysical Journal. 694 (2): 1085–1098. arXiv:0901.1206. Bibcode:2009ApJ...694.1085V. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/694/2/1085. S2CID 18370219.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. van Belle; G. T.; et al. (2001). "Altair's Oblateness and Rotation Velocity from Long-Baseline Interferometry". Astrophysical Journal. 559 (2): 1155. Bibcode:2001ApJ...559.1155V. doi:10.1086/322340.
  8. van Belle; G. T. (1999). "Predicting Stellar Angular Sizes". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 111 (766): 1515. arXiv:astro-ph/9904295. Bibcode:1999PASP..111.1515V. doi:10.1086/316462. S2CID 119336489.
  9. van Belle, G. T., & van Belle, G. (2005). "Establishing Visible Interferometer System Responses: Resolved and Unresolved Calibrators". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 117 (837): 1263–1270. arXiv:astro-ph/0508266. Bibcode:2005PASP..117.1263V. doi:10.1086/449603. S2CID 15867046.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. van Belle; G. T.; et al. (2008). "The Palomar Testbed Interferometer Calibrator Catalog". Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 176 (1): 276. arXiv:0711.4194. Bibcode:2008ApJS..176..276V. doi:10.1086/526548. S2CID 10713221.
  11. Asteroid 25155 van Belle data online at JPL Horizons
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