Reflections on Helmut Abt
Colleagues Share Thoughts on a Pioneer in Astronomy
26 May 2023
Today, NSF’s NOIRLab and the entire astronomy community celebrate the birthday of one of ground-based astronomy's pioneering leaders, Helmut Arthur Abt, astronomer emeritus at NOIRLab.
Helmut Abt has made many outstanding contributions, not just to Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), but to astronomy worldwide. From his multitude of research on stars to his observations on the sociological changes in astronomy, from his expertise editing astrophysical journals to his attitude of setting the precedent for open science, and from his significant role in the founding of a national observatory to his pivotal assistance in the development of science in China, it is undeniable that he has made a lasting impact both near and far.
Helmut’s stellar career can be neatly summarized in his autobiography, Life of an Astronomer (previously titled A Stellar Life), as well as his oral history interview from the American Institute of Physics.
In honor of his 98th birthday, we asked some of his colleagues and friends to share their recollections of his work and the impact he had on their careers.
Sidney Wolff, astronomer emerita at NOIRLab and former director of KPNO
Q. When did you first meet Helmut and under what circumstances?
A. I first learned about Helmut and his work when I was a graduate student. He was one of a very small group of astronomers who were using spectroscopy to characterize stellar atmospheres. Helmut's work made fundamental contributions to our knowledge of the rotational and binary properties of stars, particularly of A- and B-type stars.
Early in his career, Helmut obtained most of his results by working directly with photographic plates. The digitization of spectra that we all take for granted these days was simply not possible when Helmut began his career.
I probably first met Helmut in person in 1973 when I spent part of a sabbatical at Kitt Peak. I remember being impressed that his office bookshelves contained a complete collection of The Astrophysical Journal, much of which he had probably read; reading a large portion of each issue was actually possible in the 1970s.
I have also enjoyed reading Helmut's ‘sociological’ papers that show how our field has changed over the decades. For example, there are now very few single-author papers, although they used to be common. Helmut himself continued writing such papers throughout his 70-year research career.
Q. How did Helmut impact your career and/or research?
A. Helmut's data and ideas informed my own research on early-type stars.
Q. What lessons did you learn from Helmut that you wish to share with the community?
A. Throughout his career, Helmut maintained a balance between his individual research and service to the astronomical community, as we all should. In his work as editor of The Astrophysical Journal, he maintained the quality of the journal while working patiently with authors and editors to ensure that evaluations were thorough but fair.
Q. What is your most pleasant memory of Helmut during his time at KPNO?
A. Helmut is always a good person to talk to about both science and astropolitics, and I appreciate his insights.
Richard Green, astronomer with NOIRLab
Q. When did you first meet Helmut and under what circumstances?
A. We first started interacting seriously when I came to KPNO in 1983. One of our very first engagements was over a fundamental disagreement about the conduct of research. I was just completing the full catalog of UV excess stellar objects that I had assembled with Maarten Schmidt, primarily from Palomar data. At the same time, I was working with Jim Liebert and other collaborators on follow-up observations of particularly interesting hot stars, and we were publishing papers on individual objects and small samples. Helmut felt that approach was fundamentally unfair and that the full catalog should have been available to the entire community much sooner. That preview of the clash between the advantage of private facilities and the modern drive toward open science resonates today.
Q. How did Helmut impact your career and/or research?
A. I tried to emulate Helmut’s approach — to identify and accept important challenges. In his case, get the horses and crew and do a site survey on Kitt Peak, succeed Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar to become Managing Editor of The Astrophysical Journal, plunge into bibliometric studies to assess the true impact of astronomical publishing, or guide Chinese colleagues to establish a credible, peer-reviewed publishing process.
Q. What lessons did you learn from Helmut that you wish to share with the community?
A. Helmut’s example is inspirational — his combination of focus and disciplined use of his time allowed him to take on the exponential burden of editing The Astrophysical Journal, to maintain an active observing and research career, and to pursue broad intellectual interests from his deep appreciation of music to the history of Chinese jades.
Q. What is your most pleasant memory of Helmut during his time at KPNO?
A. Helmut’s frequent trips to China allowed my wife Joan and me to keep in contact and keep current with our mutual astronomy friends there. He connected with our son, Alex, who had a long-term teaching appointment in Shanghai; we got first-hand news, and Alex was able to help some of Helmut’s friends with local issues. Helmut's connections with astronomy colleagues there are so positive and strong; I still remember the outpouring of sympathy he and I got from our mutual friends just after 9/11.
Stephen Ridgway, astronomer with NOIRLab
Q. When did you first meet Helmut and under what circumstances?
A. Never introduced, and for my first year at the observatory he was remote. But in subsequent years I often worked late. He also worked late (maybe every night?), so we started crossing paths. He had a high-quality stereo system and a huge collection of LPs in his office, and after supper time classical music streamed through the halls. The local FM station played classical music in the evening and regularly had a “What Work Is This” competition. Helmut won it so often that he got a special award for repeat wins.
Q. How did Helmut impact your career and/or research?
A. He shared with me that working outside the scientific mainstream can have surprising rewards. Also that novel results come from novel questions.
Q. What lessons did you learn from Helmut that you wish to share with the community?
A. Good judgment and common sense can lead directly to out-of-the-box solutions if you are open to them; don’t be afraid to take responsibility and make decisions — consensus is not magic; patience and courtesy go a long way to avoiding problems in the first place, and resolving them when they do occur; and there is a time to speak out frankly, even if it means going out on a limb.
Q. What is your most pleasant memory of Helmut during his time at KPNO?
A. I enjoy any conversation with Helmut. In science, I greatly appreciate his gentle way of pointing out to me that the popularity of a topic is not necessarily a guide to its importance. Outside of science, I enjoy talking with him about our similar and contrasting experiences with solo travel.
John Glaspey, astronomer with NOIRLab and former head of Mountain Scientific Support at KPNO
Q. When did you first meet Helmut and under what circumstances?
A. I met Helmut early in the summer of 1966 while I worked as a summer assistant for David Crawford. Several of the students got to know Helmut as well, and we often would go out to dinner with him — we tended to work well into the evenings as Helmut did. Helmut was someone I would always stop to see when I came through Tucson over the years.
Q. How did Helmut impact your career and/or research?
A. Helmut was known to be a careful and thorough researcher, and wasn’t hesitant to put in however much time it took to do things right. His projects often took years to complete, but he thought they should be done by someone. I loved spectroscopy so I always followed his work.
Q. What lessons did you learn from Helmut that you wish to share with the community?
A. He was never afraid to undertake major projects — like getting classification dispersion spectra of all the stars in the HR catalog from KPNO and CTIO. That sort of care impressed me and stuck with me. He was equally systematic with his studies of open clusters.
Q. What is your most pleasant memory of Helmut during his time at KPNO?
A. Helmut was the first astronomer I knew to get a programmable calculator. It was actually just an adding machine but could be programmed with 16 steps or so, and would print results on a narrow roll of paper, like old fashioned cash registers. It amused him one day when I showed him how I programmed it to compute and print out the Fibonacci sequence until the result was too big to display. Useless but fun. And Helmut was a fan of Corvette convertibles: it was a treat to have him offer a ride up to Kitt Peak. (He was a careful driver!)
And now, as he did when I first met him, he keeps a small bowl of candy to offer visitors to his office.
Daryl Willmarth, KPNO Observing Support team with NOIRLab
Q. When did you first meet Helmut and under what circumstances?
A. I met Helmut in the late 1970s when I first came to the observatory and had an interest in the 2.1-meter Telescope’s Coudé Spectrograph. We were both interested in binary stars, and I joined him in the 1980s for some observing projects from which we published a number of papers.
Q. How did Helmut impact your career and/or research?
A. My primary work has been in supporting visiting astronomers with instrumentation and data reduction, but through Helmut I was able to pursue research too, and that continues to the present. I am finishing up a project that we started in the early 1990s.
Q. What lessons did you learn from Helmut that you wish to share with the community?
A. Helmut has always been a real gentleman and maintained his collegiality even with those that didn't agree with his views. I think he had great respect from colleagues during his years as editor of The Astrophysical Journal.
Q. What is your most pleasant memory of Helmut during his time at KPNO?
A. Through Helmut I learned about the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. I have enjoyed these concerts for several years and am very grateful to him for informing me about the group.
Julie Steffen, Chief Publishing Officer with the American Astronomical Society (AAS)
Q. What imprint did Helmut leave on the AAS and The Astrophysical Journal?
A. Helmut was editor-in-chief of the American Astronomical Society’s The Astrophysical Journal from 1971 to 1999, which was an extremely important time in the development of the broad field of astronomical sciences. He was editor when the AAS started publishing the journal online in 1995, and oversaw its growth in volume and prestige. The Astrophysical Journal is now a truly global journal that publishes over 3000 articles per year. His editorial office during his entire tenure was based here at 950 N. Cherry in Tucson, Arizona. Here is one of Helmut’s articles about his editorship.
Q. What is something that exemplifies Helmut in your mind?
A. I had the privilege of accompanying Helmut on one of his many trips to China in 2004. While the rest of the delegation traveled by car around Beijing, Helmut insisted on walking!
About Helmut Abt
Helmut Abt was born in Helmstedt, Germany; when he was two, his family emigrated to the United States. He received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics in 1946, as well as a master of science in physics in 1948, from Northwestern University. In 1952, he became the first person to be awarded a PhD in astrophysics at California Institute of Technology for his thesis work on W Virginis, after which he spent a year at Lick Observatory. From 1953 to 1959, he was assistant professor at Yerkes Observatory, part of the University of Chicago, and then joined the staff of KPNO as an astronomer, where he remained for 41 years until 2000. From 1966 to 1968, he was President of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific; and in 1971–1999, he was managing editor of The Astrophysical Journal. His areas of research include: stellar rotation; binary stars, including spectroscopic binaries; stellar classification; and bibliometrics of astronomy publications.
In 1955 Helmut played an integral role in the founding of Kitt Peak National Observatory, when he and a small team surveyed over 40 mountaintops in the Southwest. Judging the sites on 18 different characteristics (such as seeing, clear weather, and proximity to cities), he ultimately recommended the sky island of Kitt Peak located 90 kilometers (56 miles) southwest of Tucson, Arizona, in the Schuk Toak District on the Tohono O’odham Nation, as the best location for the observatory.
In addition to founding KPNO, Helmut is also an avid traveler. Having journeyed through 30 different countries in 80 different trips, his most notable experiences were on his travels in China. He was deeply involved in stimulating the advancement of astronomy in China, and for his contributions, he was the first astronomer to be awarded the Chinese Foreign Friendship Award in 2020.
We are grateful to have him as part of the NOIRLab community, and we look forward to seeing how his legacy impacts the astronomical society at large. Happy Birthday, Helmut Abt!
