Merle Eleanor Gold (née Tuberg) (7 March 1921- 29 September 2017) was an American astrophysicist, best known for her study of the Sun with Nobel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.[1]
Merle Gold | |
---|---|
Born | 7 March 1921 |
Died | 29 September 2017 (age 96) |
Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Spouse | Thomas Gold |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astrophysics |
Institutions | University of Cambridge |
Thesis | The variations of absorption line contours across the solar disc |
Doctoral advisor | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar |
Merle Gold was born on 7 March 1921 and grew up in Rochester, Minnesota to Nathaniel and Eleanor Tuberg.[2] She graduated high school in 1939 as Valedictorian of her class.[2] She trained as a medical secretary at Mayo Clinic for two years before undertaking her undergraduate degree at University of Chicago.[2] After graduating, she went on to complete her PhD in astrophysics under Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar at Yerkes Observatory.[1][2][3][4][5] Her thesis was on how absorption lines detected from the Sun vary across the solar disk.[3]
In 1946, Merle was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at University of Cambridge.[2][1] She published one research paper after her thesis on the lifetimes of clusters of nebulae outside the Milky Way.[6][1] In 1971, she became an editor at Cornell School of Agriculture where she worked until her retirement.[2]
She married astronomer Thomas Gold in 1947 and they had 3 children together before divorcing in 1971.[1][2] Merle died in Ithaca, New York on 29 September 2017.[2]