Alfred Fowler
Alfred Fowler, CBE FRS[1] (22 March 1868, in Yorkshire – 24 June 1940) was an English astronomer and spectroscopist.In 1896, Edward Charles Pickering published observations of previously unknown lines in the spectra of the star Zeta Puppis,[3] which he attributed to hydrogen.[4][5] Fowler managed to reproduce these lines experimentally from a hydrogen-helium mixture in 1912, and agreed with Pickering's interpretation that they were previously unknown features in the spectrum of hydrogen.[8] Niels Bohr included a theoretical examination of these lines in his 'trilogy'[9][10] on atomic structure[11] and concluded that they had been wrongly attributed to hydrogen, arguing instead that they arose from ionised helium, He+.[12] Fowler was initially skeptical[13] but was ultimately convinced[14] that Bohr was correct,[9] and by 1915 "spectroscopists had transferred [the Pickering–Fowler series] definitively [from hydrogen] to helium.
William Alfred FowlerYorkshireValz PrizeGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical SocietyRoyal MedalHenry Draper MedalBruce MedalAstronomyastronomerspectroscopistWilsdenBradfordImperial College, LondonspectroscopysunspotsFellow of the Royal SocietySir Norman LockyerProf CallendarBakerian LecturesRoyal Astronomical SocietyEaling, LondonMount Wilson ObservatoryEdward Charles PickeringZeta PuppishydrogenPickering–Fowler seriesNiels Bohratomic structureheliumFrench Academy of SciencesNational Academy of SciencesCommander of the Most Excellent Order of the British EmpireFowlerRalph H. FowlerDingle, H.Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal SocietyRobotti, NadiaPickering, E. C.Harvard College Observatory CircularBibcodeFleming, W. P.Astrophysical JournalAstronomische NachrichtenMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyLakatos, ImreCambridge University PressHistorical Studies in the Physical SciencesNorth Holland Publishing CompanyHarvard University PressBohr, N.Philosophical MagazineNature