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{{use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
{{Infobox scientist
| name             = Vesto Melvin Slipher
| name         = Vesto Melvin Slipher
| image             =
| image       =
| caption           =
| caption     =
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1875|11|11}}
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1875|11|11}}
| birth_place       = [[Mulberry, Indiana]], United States
| birth_place = [[Mulberry, Indiana]], United States
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1969|11|08|1875|11|11}}
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1969|11|08|1875|11|11}}
| death_place       = [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], United States
| death_place = [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], United States
| spouse           = {{marriage|Emma R. Munger|1904}}
| spouse       = {{marriage|Emma R. Munger|1904}}
| children         = 2
| children     = 2
| fields           = [[Astronomy]]
| fields       = [[Astronomy]]
| workplaces       = [[Lowell Observatory]]
| workplaces   = [[Lowell Observatory]]
| alma_mater       = [[Indiana University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Master of Science|MS]], [[PhD]])
| alma_mater   = [[Indiana University Bloomington]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Master of Science|MS]], [[PhD]])
| relatives         = [[Earl C. Slipher]] (brother)
| relatives   = [[Earl C. Slipher]] (brother)
| known_for         = {{ubl|Discovering [[redshift]]s in [[spiral galaxies]]|Discovering the [[sodium layer]]}}
| known_for   = {{ubl|Discovering [[redshift]]s in [[spiral galaxies]]|Discovering the [[sodium layer]]}}
}}
}}


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==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Vesto Melvin Slipher was born in [[Mulberry, Indiana]], to Daniel Clark and Hannah App Slipher. He spent his early years working on his family farm in Mulberry.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Graves Hoyt |first=William |date=1980 |editor-last=Crawford Jr. |editor-first=Bryce |editor2-last=McEuen |editor2-first=Caroline K. |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences  |publisher=National Academy Press |volume=52 |page=413}}</ref> Vesto had a younger brother, [[Earl C. Slipher]], who was also an astronomer at [[Lowell Observatory]].<ref name=":1" />
Vesto Melvin Slipher was born in [[Mulberry, Indiana]], to Daniel Clark and Hannah App Slipher. He spent his early years working on his family farm in Mulberry.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Graves Hoyt |first=William |date=1980 |editor-last=Crawford Jr. |editor-first=Bryce |editor2-last=McEuen |editor2-first=Caroline K. |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences  |publisher=National Academy Press |volume=52 |page=413}}</ref> Vesto had a younger brother, [[Earl C. Slipher]], who was also an astronomer at [[Lowell Observatory]].<ref name=":1" />
Slipher went to high school in [[Frankfort, Indiana|Frankfort, IN]]. He then attended [[Indiana University]] in [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington, IN]] and earned his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanics and Astronomy in June 1901.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Graves Hoyt |first=William |date=1980 |editor-last=Crawford Jr. |editor-first=Bryce |editor2-last=McEuen |editor2-first=Caroline K. |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences  |publisher=National Academy Press |volume=52 |page=414}}</ref> Two years later, Slipher earned his Master's Degree in the same program.<ref name=":2" /> At the age of 33, Vesto graduated with his Ph.D. in Mechanics and Astronomy from Indiana University.<ref name=":2" />
Slipher went to high school in [[Frankfort, Indiana]]. He then attended [[Indiana University Bloomington]] and earned his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanics and Astronomy in June 1901.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Graves Hoyt |first=William |date=1980 |editor-last=Crawford Jr. |editor-first=Bryce |editor2-last=McEuen |editor2-first=Caroline K. |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences  |publisher=National Academy Press |volume=52 |page=414}}</ref> Two years later, Slipher earned his Master's Degree in the same program.<ref name=":2" /> At the age of 33, Vesto graduated with his Ph.D. in Mechanics and Astronomy from Indiana University.<ref name=":2" />


==Career==
==Career==
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==Discoveries==
==Discoveries==
[[File:Delegates to the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.9|Slipher, sixth from left, at the 1910 Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at [[Mount Wilson Observatory]] in [[California]]]]
[[File:Delegates to the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.9|Slipher, sixth from left, at the 1910 Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at [[Mount Wilson Observatory]] in [[California]]]]
Slipher introduced as early as 1909 that the [[infrared spectrum]] could be recorded using [[photographic emulsion]]s, and used those to record the absorption lines of sunlight and major planets.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/900836268 |title=A Source Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1900–1975 |date=1979 |publisher=Harvard University Press |others=Owen Gingerich, Kenneth R. Lang |isbn=978-0-674-36667-1 |location=[Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar] |pages=67 |oclc=900836268}}</ref> He found that the planets showed different absorption lines that were not present in sunlight, and identified those bands with [[ammonia]] and [[methane]].<ref name=":6" /> In the early twentieth century, Vesto Slipher elongated the spectrum to include the red and infrared wavelengths and showed that the major planets display strong absorption lines at many different wavelengths.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/900836268 |title=A Source Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1900–1975 |date=1979 |publisher=Harvard University Press |others=Owen Gingerich, Kenneth R. Lang |isbn=978-0-674-36667-1 |location=[Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar] |page=117 |oclc=900836268}}</ref> Slipher used [[spectroscopy]] to investigate the rotation periods of [[planets]] and the composition of planetary atmospheres. In 1912, he was the first to observe the shift of spectral lines of [[galaxies]], making him the discoverer of galactic [[redshifts]].<ref>Slipher first reports on the making the first Doppler measurement on September 17, 1912 in [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1913LowOB...1b..56S&amp;db_key=AST&amp;data_type=HTML&amp;format=&amp;high=448f04e38822894 ''The radial velocity of the Andromeda Nebula''] in the inaugural volume of the ''Lowell Observatory Bulletin'', pp. 2.56–2.57. In his report Slipher writes: "The magnitude of this velocity, which is the greatest hitherto observed, raises the question whether the velocity-like displacement might not be due to some other cause, but I believe we have at present no other interpretation for it." Three years later, Slipher wrote a review in the journal ''Popular Astronomy'', Vol. 23, pp. 21–24 [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1915PA.....23...21S&amp;db_key=AST&amp;data_type=HTML&amp;format=&amp;high=448f04e38822894 ''Spectrographic Observations of Nebulae''], in which he states, "The early discovery that the great Andromeda spiral had the quite exceptional velocity of -300 km(/s) showed the means then available, capable of investigating not only the spectra of the spirals but their velocities as well." Slipher reported the velocities for 15 spiral nebula spread across the entire [[celestial sphere]], all but three having observable "positive" (that is recessional) velocities.</ref> Using the Doppler effect and noting subtle changes, he measured the speeds in which spiral nebulae traveled during his research from 1912 and onward.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Helicon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/923353697 |title=Hutchinson Trends in Science : Astronomy. |date=2006 |publisher=Helicon Publishing |isbn=978-1-85986-504-0 |location=Abingdon |pages=15, 19|oclc=923353697}}</ref>
Slipher introduced as early as 1909 that the [[infrared spectrum]] could be recorded using [[photographic emulsion]]s, and used those to record the absorption lines of sunlight and major planets.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=A Source Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1900–1975 |date=1979 |publisher=Harvard University Press |others=Owen Gingerich, Kenneth R. Lang |isbn=978-0-674-36667-1 |location=[Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar] |pages=67 |oclc=900836268}}</ref> He found that the planets showed different absorption lines that were not present in sunlight, and identified those bands with [[ammonia]] and [[methane]].<ref name=":6" /> In the early twentieth century, Vesto Slipher elongated the spectrum to include the red and infrared wavelengths and showed that the major planets display strong absorption lines at many different wavelengths.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Source Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1900–1975 |date=1979 |publisher=Harvard University Press |others=Owen Gingerich, Kenneth R. Lang |isbn=978-0-674-36667-1 |location=[Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar] |page=117 |oclc=900836268}}</ref> Slipher used [[spectroscopy]] to investigate the rotation periods of [[planets]] and the composition of planetary atmospheres. In 1912, he was the first to observe the shift of spectral lines of [[galaxies]], making him the discoverer of galactic [[redshifts]].<ref>Slipher first reports on the making the first Doppler measurement on September 17, 1912 in [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1913LowOB...1b..56S&amp;db_key=AST&amp;data_type=HTML&amp;format=&amp;high=448f04e38822894 ''The radial velocity of the Andromeda Nebula''] in the inaugural volume of the ''Lowell Observatory Bulletin'', pp. 2.56–2.57. In his report Slipher writes: "The magnitude of this velocity, which is the greatest hitherto observed, raises the question whether the velocity-like displacement might not be due to some other cause, but I believe we have at present no other interpretation for it." Three years later, Slipher wrote a review in the journal ''Popular Astronomy'', Vol. 23, pp. 21–24 [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1915PA.....23...21S&amp;db_key=AST&amp;data_type=HTML&amp;format=&amp;high=448f04e38822894 ''Spectrographic Observations of Nebulae''], in which he states, "The early discovery that the great Andromeda spiral had the quite exceptional velocity of -300 km(/s) showed the means then available, capable of investigating not only the spectra of the spirals but their velocities as well." Slipher reported the velocities for 15 spiral nebula spread across the entire [[celestial sphere]], all but three having observable "positive" (that is recessional) velocities.</ref> Using the Doppler effect and noting subtle changes, he measured the speeds in which spiral nebulae traveled during his research from 1912 and onward.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Helicon |title=Hutchinson Trends in Science : Astronomy. |date=2006 |publisher=Helicon Publishing |isbn=978-1-85986-504-0 |location=Abingdon |pages=15, 19|oclc=923353697}}</ref>
These subtle changes in the speeds of the nebulae led Slipher to conclude that the nebulae were not within the Milky Way galaxy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Publishing |first=Helicon |title=Hutchinson Trends in Science – Astronomy|publisher=Helicon Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1859865040 |pages=15, 19}}</ref> In 1914, Slipher also made the first discovery of the rotation of spiral galaxies.<ref>{{Cite news |last= Slipher |first= Vesto |date=1914 |title= The detection of nebular rotation |journal= Lowell Observatory Bulletin, 62}}</ref>
These subtle changes in the speeds of the nebulae led Slipher to conclude that the nebulae were not within the Milky Way galaxy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Publishing |first=Helicon |title=Hutchinson Trends in Science – Astronomy|publisher=Helicon Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1859865040 |pages=15, 19}}</ref> In 1914, Slipher also made the first discovery of the rotation of spiral galaxies.<ref>{{Cite news |last= Slipher |first= Vesto |date=1914 |title= The detection of nebular rotation |journal= Lowell Observatory Bulletin, 62}}</ref>
He discovered the [[sodium layer]] in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.albany.edu/faculty/rgk/atm101/sodium.htm | title=The Metallic Vapor Layers}}</ref>  He was responsible for hiring [[Clyde Tombaugh]] and supervised the work that led to the discovery of [[Pluto]] in 1930.<ref name="nytimes1969" />
He discovered the [[sodium layer]] in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.albany.edu/faculty/rgk/atm101/sodium.htm | title=The Metallic Vapor Layers | access-date=October 20, 2010 | archive-date=July 31, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731164638/http://www.albany.edu/faculty/rgk/atm101/sodium.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>  He was responsible for hiring [[Clyde Tombaugh]] and supervised the work that led to the discovery of [[Pluto]] in 1930.<ref name="nytimes1969" />


By 1917, Slipher had measured the radial velocities of 25 "spiral nebulae," and found that all but three of those galaxies were moving away from us, at substantial speeds. Slipher himself speculated that this might be due to the motion of our own galaxy – as in his sample, those galaxies moving towards us and those moving away from us were roughly in opposite directions.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Slipher, Vesto|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=56|pages=403–409|year=1917|bibcode=1917PAPhS..56..403S|title=Nebulae}}
By 1917, Slipher had measured the radial velocities of 25 "spiral nebulae," and found that all but three of those galaxies were moving away from us, at substantial speeds. Slipher himself speculated that this might be due to the motion of our own galaxy – as in his sample, those galaxies moving towards us and those moving away from us were roughly in opposite directions.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Slipher, Vesto|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=56|pages=403–409|year=1917|bibcode=1917PAPhS..56..403S|title=Nebulae}}
</ref>  In hindsight, this was the first data supporting models of an [[Expansion of the universe|expanding universe]]. Later, Slipher's and additional spectroscopic measurements of radial velocities were combined by Edwin Hubble with Hubble's own determinations of galaxy distances, leading Hubble to discover the (at that time, rough) proportionality between galaxies' distances and redshifts, which is today termed [[Hubble's law|the Hubble–Lemaître law]] (formerly named Hubble's law; the IAU Decision of October 2018 recommends the use of a new name<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1812/|title=International Astronomical Union {{!}} IAU|website=www.iau.org|access-date=2019-08-26}}</ref>), was formulated by Hubble and Humason in 1929 and became the basis for the modern model of the [[expanding universe]].
</ref>  In hindsight, this was the first data supporting models of an [[Expansion of the universe|expanding universe]]. Later, Slipher's and additional spectroscopic measurements of radial velocities were combined by Edwin Hubble with Hubble's own determinations of galaxy distances, leading Hubble to discover the (at that time, rough) proportionality between galaxies' distances and redshifts, which is today termed [[Hubble's law|the Hubble–Lemaître law]] (formerly named Hubble's law; the IAU Decision of October 2018 recommends the use of a new name<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1812/|title=International Astronomical Union {{!}} IAU|website=www.iau.org|access-date=2019-08-26|archive-date=May 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506011012/https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1812/|url-status=dead}}</ref>), was formulated by Hubble and Humason in 1929 and became the basis for the modern model of the [[expanding universe]].


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
Slipher married Emma R. Munger in 1904 in Frankfort, IN. Vesto and Emma had two children together, David Clark and Marcia Frances.<ref name="Graves Hoyt 1980 415">{{Cite journal |last=Graves Hoyt |first=William |date=1980 |editor-last=Crawford Jr. |editor-first=Bryce |editor2-last=McEuen |editor2-first=Caroline K. |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences  |publisher=National Academy Press |volume=52 |page=415}}</ref>
Slipher married Emma R. Munger in 1904 in Frankfort, Indiana. Vesto and Emma had two children – David Clark and Marcia Frances.<ref name="Graves Hoyt 1980 415">{{Cite journal |last=Graves Hoyt |first=William |date=1980 |editor-last=Crawford Jr. |editor-first=Bryce |editor2-last=McEuen |editor2-first=Caroline K. |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences  |publisher=National Academy Press |volume=52 |page=415}}</ref>


In 1901, Vesto Slipher moved to [[Flagstaff, Arizona]] and began work at Lowell Observatory.<ref name="Graves Hoyt 1980 415"/> He spent the next 53 years of his life working at Lowell Observatory as an assistant and then the director of the observatory until his retirement in 1954. Slipher lived until age 93 and died in Flagstaff in 1969.<ref name="Graves Hoyt 1980 415"/> He is buried at [[List of historic properties in Flagstaff, Arizona#Flagstaff Citizens Cemetery|Citizens Cemetery]] in Flagstaff.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nickell |first=Duane S. |title=Scientific Indiana |publisher=The History Press |year=2021 |isbn=9781467149488 |page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |url=https://arizonagravestones.org/view.php?id=92752 |website=arizonagravestones.org |publisher=Gravestone Photo Project (GPP)}}</ref>
In 1901 Slipher moved to [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], and began work at Lowell Observatory.<ref name="Graves Hoyt 1980 415"/> He continued  at Lowell as an assistant and as the director until his retirement in 1954. Slipher died in Flagstaff in 1969 at age 93.<ref name="Graves Hoyt 1980 415"/> He is buried at [[List of historic properties in Flagstaff, Arizona#Flagstaff Citizens Cemetery|Citizens Cemetery]] in Flagstaff.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nickell |first=Duane S. |title=Scientific Indiana |publisher=The History Press |year=2021 |isbn=9781467149488 |page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Vesto Melvin Slipher |url=https://arizonagravestones.org/view.php?id=92752 |website=arizonagravestones.org |publisher=Gravestone Photo Project (GPP)}}</ref>


==Awards==
==Awards==
* Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (elected 1909)<ref>{{cite web |title=Member Directory |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/vesto-melvin-slipher |website=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref>
*Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (elected 1909)<ref>{{cite web |title=Member Directory |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/vesto-melvin-slipher |website=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref>
* [[Lalande Prize]] (1919)<ref name="nytimes1969"/>
*[[Lalande Prize]] (1919)<ref name="nytimes1969"/>
* [[French Academy of Sciences|Gold Medal of the Paris Academy of Sciences]] (1919)<ref name="nytimes1969"/>
*[[French Academy of Sciences|Gold Medal of the Paris Academy of Sciences]] (1919)<ref name="nytimes1969"/>
* Member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] (1921)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vesto M. Slipher |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001710.html |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>
*Member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] (1921)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vesto M. Slipher |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001710.html |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>
* Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1921)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Vesto+M.+Slipher&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
*Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1921)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Vesto+M.+Slipher&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=search.amphilsoc.org |archive-date=December 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231131603/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Vesto+M.+Slipher&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Henry Draper Medal]] of the National Academy of Sciences (1932)<ref name="nytimes1969"/><ref name=Draper>{{cite web|title=Henry Draper Medal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126003930/http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |archive-date=January 26, 2013 }}</ref>
*[[Henry Draper Medal]] of the National Academy of Sciences (1932)<ref name="nytimes1969"/><ref name=Draper>{{cite web|title=Henry Draper Medal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126003930/http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |archive-date=January 26, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] (1932)<ref name="nytimes1969"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society|url=http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268|publisher=Royal Astronomical Society|access-date=24 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525064844/http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268|archive-date=25 May 2011}}</ref>
*[[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] (1932)<ref name="nytimes1969"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society|url=http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268|publisher=Royal Astronomical Society|access-date=24 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525064844/http://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/268|archive-date=25 May 2011}}</ref>
* [[Bruce Medal]] (1935)<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal|url=http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html|publisher=Astronomical Society of the Pacific|access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref>
*[[Bruce Medal]] (1935)<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal|url=http://astrosociety.org/membership/awards/pastbruce.html|publisher=Astronomical Society of the Pacific|access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref>
* The crater [[Slipher (lunar crater)|Slipher]] on the [[Moon]] is named after Earl and Vesto Slipher, as is the crater [[Slipher (Martian crater)|Slipher]] on Mars and the [[asteroid]] [[1766 Slipher]], discovered September 7, 1962, by the [[Indiana Asteroid Program]].
*The crater [[Slipher (lunar crater)|Slipher]] on the [[Moon]] is named after Earl and Vesto Slipher, as is the crater [[Slipher (Martian crater)|Slipher]] on Mars and the [[asteroid]] [[1766 Slipher]], discovered September 7, 1962, by the [[Indiana Asteroid Program]].


==References==
==References==
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===Sources===
===Sources===
* {{Cite book|last=Hoyt|first=William Graves|chapter=Vesto Melvin Slipher|year=1980|editor-last=Crawford Jr.|editor-first=Bryce|editor2-last=McEuen|editor2-first=Caroline K.|title=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences |publisher=[[National Academies Press]]|place=Washington D.C.|volume=52|pages=411–449|via=[[Internet Archive]]|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalmemo0052nati_u3j0/page/n3/mode/2up|isbn=0-309-03099-4}}
*{{Cite book|last=Hoyt|first=William Graves|chapter=Vesto Melvin Slipher|year=1980|editor-last=Crawford Jr.|editor-first=Bryce|editor2-last=McEuen|editor2-first=Caroline K.|title=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences |publisher=[[National Academies Press]]|place=Washington D.C.|volume=52|pages=411–449|via=[[Internet Archive]]|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalmemo0052nati_u3j0/page/n3/mode/2up|isbn=0-309-03099-4}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927002645/http://www.lowell.edu/Research/library/paper/vm_slipher.html Library of Lowell Observatory: Biography of V. M. Slipher]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927002645/http://www.lowell.edu/Research/library/paper/vm_slipher.html Library of Lowell Observatory: Biography of V. M. Slipher]
* [http://www.roe.ac.uk/~jap/slipher/ The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh: History, Papers & External Links on V. M. Slipher]
*[http://www.roe.ac.uk/~jap/slipher/ The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh: History, Papers & External Links on V. M. Slipher]
* {{Find a Grave|7129315|Vesto Melvin Slipher}}
*{{Find a Grave|7129315|Vesto Melvin Slipher}}
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&author=slipher,%20v.&aut_syn=NO V. Slipher] @ [[Astrophysics Data System]]
*[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&author=slipher,%20v.&aut_syn=NO V. Slipher] @ [[Astrophysics Data System]]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American astronomers]]
[[Category:20th-century American astronomers]]
[[Category:Indiana University alumni]]
[[Category:Indiana University Bloomington alumni]]
[[Category:People from Clinton County, Indiana]]
[[Category:People from Clinton County, Indiana]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]

Latest revision as of 04:15, 13 September 2025

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Vesto Melvin Slipher (Template:IPAc-en; November 11, 1875 – November 8, 1969) was an American astronomer who performed the first measurements of radial velocities for galaxies. He was the first to discover that distant galaxies are redshifted, thus providing the first empirical basis for the expansion of the universe.[1][2][3][4] He was also the first to relate these redshifts to velocity.[5]

Early life and education

Vesto Melvin Slipher was born in Mulberry, Indiana, to Daniel Clark and Hannah App Slipher. He spent his early years working on his family farm in Mulberry.[6] Vesto had a younger brother, Earl C. Slipher, who was also an astronomer at Lowell Observatory.[6] Slipher went to high school in Frankfort, Indiana. He then attended Indiana University Bloomington and earned his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanics and Astronomy in June 1901.[7] Two years later, Slipher earned his Master's Degree in the same program.[7] At the age of 33, Vesto graduated with his Ph.D. in Mechanics and Astronomy from Indiana University.[7]

Career

While at school at Indiana University, Slipher formed a personal bond with one of his professors, William Cogshall. Cogshall was one of the main reasons Slipher became interested in astronomy in the first place.[8] Cogshall convinced Percival Lowell, director of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, to take Vesto in as a temporary assistant.[8] Slipher worked as an assistant from 1901 to 1915 when Lowell finally named him the assistant director of the observatory.[9] One year later Percival Lowell died and Vesto became the acting director for the next ten years.[9] In 1926, 25 years after arriving in Flagstaff, Slipher was named director of the Lowell Observatory.[9] He remained in charge for 28 more years when he retired from professional life.[9] Slipher spent his years there studying many things, but most notably, spectroscopy and redshifts of spiral nebulae.

The first major task Slipher was given was to measure the Solar System's planets' rotation interval.[10] He was one of the first astronomers to show that Uranus has a much faster rotation than Earth, similar to the other giant planets in the Solar System.[10] What Vesto is most known for though is his work with spiral nebulae, or, spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way and Andromeda.[10] His initial goal was to measure how fast the nebulae were moving.[10] His discoveries were confirmed ten years later when Edwin Hubble used the Mount Wilson Observatory reflector to view the galaxies much more clearly.[10]

Discoveries

File:Delegates to the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory.jpg
Slipher, sixth from left, at the 1910 Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory in California

Slipher introduced as early as 1909 that the infrared spectrum could be recorded using photographic emulsions, and used those to record the absorption lines of sunlight and major planets.[11] He found that the planets showed different absorption lines that were not present in sunlight, and identified those bands with ammonia and methane.[11] In the early twentieth century, Vesto Slipher elongated the spectrum to include the red and infrared wavelengths and showed that the major planets display strong absorption lines at many different wavelengths.[12] Slipher used spectroscopy to investigate the rotation periods of planets and the composition of planetary atmospheres. In 1912, he was the first to observe the shift of spectral lines of galaxies, making him the discoverer of galactic redshifts.[13] Using the Doppler effect and noting subtle changes, he measured the speeds in which spiral nebulae traveled during his research from 1912 and onward.[14] These subtle changes in the speeds of the nebulae led Slipher to conclude that the nebulae were not within the Milky Way galaxy.[15] In 1914, Slipher also made the first discovery of the rotation of spiral galaxies.[16] He discovered the sodium layer in 1929.[17] He was responsible for hiring Clyde Tombaugh and supervised the work that led to the discovery of Pluto in 1930.[1]

By 1917, Slipher had measured the radial velocities of 25 "spiral nebulae," and found that all but three of those galaxies were moving away from us, at substantial speeds. Slipher himself speculated that this might be due to the motion of our own galaxy – as in his sample, those galaxies moving towards us and those moving away from us were roughly in opposite directions.[18] In hindsight, this was the first data supporting models of an expanding universe. Later, Slipher's and additional spectroscopic measurements of radial velocities were combined by Edwin Hubble with Hubble's own determinations of galaxy distances, leading Hubble to discover the (at that time, rough) proportionality between galaxies' distances and redshifts, which is today termed the Hubble–Lemaître law (formerly named Hubble's law; the IAU Decision of October 2018 recommends the use of a new name[19]), was formulated by Hubble and Humason in 1929 and became the basis for the modern model of the expanding universe.

Personal life

Slipher married Emma R. Munger in 1904 in Frankfort, Indiana. Vesto and Emma had two children – David Clark and Marcia Frances.[20]

In 1901 Slipher moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, and began work at Lowell Observatory.[20] He continued at Lowell as an assistant and as the director until his retirement in 1954. Slipher died in Flagstaff in 1969 at age 93.[20] He is buried at Citizens Cemetery in Flagstaff.[21][22]

Awards

References

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  13. ↑ Slipher first reports on the making the first Doppler measurement on September 17, 1912 in The radial velocity of the Andromeda Nebula in the inaugural volume of the Lowell Observatory Bulletin, pp. 2.56–2.57. In his report Slipher writes: "The magnitude of this velocity, which is the greatest hitherto observed, raises the question whether the velocity-like displacement might not be due to some other cause, but I believe we have at present no other interpretation for it." Three years later, Slipher wrote a review in the journal Popular Astronomy, Vol. 23, pp. 21–24 Spectrographic Observations of Nebulae, in which he states, "The early discovery that the great Andromeda spiral had the quite exceptional velocity of -300 km(/s) showed the means then available, capable of investigating not only the spectra of the spirals but their velocities as well." Slipher reported the velocities for 15 spiral nebula spread across the entire celestial sphere, all but three having observable "positive" (that is recessional) velocities.
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Sources

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External links

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