James B. Kaler

James Bailey "Jim" Kaler (December 29, 1938 — November 26, 2022^[1]) was an American astronomer and science writer.

James Bailey "Jim" Kaler
Born	(1938-12-29)December 29, 1938 Albany, New York, U.S.
Died	November 26, 2022(2022-11-26) (aged 83)
Education	University of Michigan, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, UCLA
Alma mater	University of Michigan, UCLA
Occupation(s)	Astronomer, science writer
Years active	1961–2003
Employer	University of Illinois

Personal life and education

Kaler was born to Earl and Hazel Holmgren Kaler on December 29th, 1938. After elementary and high-school education in Albany, New York, Kaler earned his A.B. at the University of Michigan in 1960. He attended graduate school at the University of Michigan (1960–61), at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Germany, 1961–62), and UCLA (1962–64), where he also obtained his Ph.D. in Astronomy 1964. His thesis advisor was Lawrence H. Aller. He was married to Maxine Grossman and they had three children.^[1] He died due to complications of Parkinson's Disease on November 26th, 2022.

Professional career

Kaler started his professional career with appointments as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Michigan from 1958 to summer 1960. In 1961 he worked as an astronomer with the United States Naval Observatory. In 1964 he was appointed as an assistant professor of Astronomy by the University of Illinois, and promoted to associate professor in 1968 and to a full professor position in 1976 (all at University of Illinois). Since 1995 he is Campus Honors Faculty.^[2] In 2003 he retired to become professor emeritus at the University of Illinois.^[2]

Kaler published over 120 papers. Examples include work on

• the chemical composition of planetary nebulae^[3] including their electron densities,^[4] on
• emission lines of planetary and diffuse nebulae,^[5][6] on
• the development of shells in planetary nebulae,^[7] and on
• stellar evolution.^[8]

He has served as president of the board of directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific^[9] and of the Board of the Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra.

Honors and awards

• He has held Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships,^[10] and has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liège in Belgium^[11] and the University of Mexico.
• He gave the Armand Spitz Lecture to the Great Lakes Planetarium Association^[12] and the Margaret Noble Address to the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society.
• In 2003 he received the 2003 Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement^[13] by the University of Illinois.
• In 2008 he received the American Astronomical Society's Education Prize.^[14]
• He was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020.^[15]
• Asteroid 17851 Kaler, discovered by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program in 1998, was named after him, honoring his outreach activities.^[16]

Works

Jim Kaler has written for a variety of magazines, and was a consultant for Time-Life Books. He has long appeared on Illinois television and radio. In addition to two textbooks and three audio courses, he published several books, including^[17]

• First Magnitude: A Book of the Bright Sky
• Stars and their Spectra,
• The Ever-Changing Sky,
• Extreme Stars (American Association of Publishers Outstanding Professional and Scholarly Title in Physics and Astronomy for 2001),
• The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stars,
• Stars and Cosmic Clouds,
• The Little Book of Stars,
• The Hundred Greatest Stars, and
• Heaven's Touch (selected Book of the Week by Times Higher Education in September 2009^[18]).

His online star database "STARS" has scored more than 4 million visitors since its release in 1988.

References

1. "James Kaler Obituary (1938 - 2022) - Champaign, IL - The News-Gazette". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
2. "Faculty members and academic professionals retire". News.illinois.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-08-04. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
3. Kaler, James B. (1970). "1970ApJ...160..887K Page 887". The Astrophysical Journal. 160. Adsabs.harvard.edu: 887. Bibcode:1970ApJ...160..887K. doi:10.1086/150479. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
4. Stanghellini, Letizia; Kaler, James B. (1989). "1989ApJ...343..811S Page 811". The Astrophysical Journal. 343. Adsabs.harvard.edu: 811. Bibcode:1989ApJ...343..811S. doi:10.1086/167751. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
5. Kaler, J. B. (1976). "1976ApJS...31..517K Page 517". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 31. Adsabs.harvard.edu: 517. Bibcode:1976ApJS...31..517K. doi:10.1086/190390. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
6. Shaw, Richard A.; Kaler, James B. (1989). "1989ApJS...69..495S Page 495". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 69. Adsabs.harvard.edu: 495. Bibcode:1989ApJS...69..495S. doi:10.1086/191320. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
7. Kaler, James B. (1974). "1974AJ 79..594K Page 594". The Astronomical Journal. 79. Adsabs.harvard.edu: 594. Bibcode:1974AJ.....79..594K. doi:10.1086/111580. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
8. Kaler, James B.; Shaw, Richard A.; Kwitter, Karen B. (1990). "1990ApJ...359..392K Page 392". The Astrophysical Journal. 359. Adsabs.harvard.edu: 392. Bibcode:1990ApJ...359..392K. doi:10.1086/169073. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
9. "Astronomical Society of the Pacific: Past Board Presidents and Executive Directors". astrosociety.org.
10. "www.gf.org/fellows/results?query=Kaler&lower_bound=1925&upper_bound=2010&competition=ALL&fellowship_category=ALL&x=0&y=0". Archived from the original on 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
11. "Illinois professor receives astronomy education prize | Archives | News Bureau | University of Illinois". News.illinois.edu. Archived from the original on 2008-10-29. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
12. "GLPA Conference Proceedings: 1999". Glpa.org. Archived from the original on 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
13. "Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement". News.illinois.edu. 2003-10-02. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
14. "ASP: ASP President Jim Kaler Receives AAS 2008 Education Award". Astrosociety.org. Archived from the original on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
15. "AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
16. Alan Chamberlin. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". Ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
17. "Titles List (Library of Congress Online Catalog)". Catalog.loc.gov. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
18. "Book of the week: Heaven's Touch: From Killer Stars to the Seeds of Life, How We Are Connected to the Universe". Times Higher Education. 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2010-01-25.

External links

• CV/Resumé University of Illinois
• Biographical Sketch University of Illinois
• Obituary in the Champaign (Illinois) News Gazette