保罗·梅瑞尔1887—1961

生平

1913年，他在加利福尼亚大学获得博士学位。他一生中的主要职业生涯都在威尔逊山天文台度过，直止1952年退休。他曾与威格敦大学（Wigtown University）的克雷格·肯尼迪一起，通过光谱共同研究过一些不寻常的恒星，特别是长周期变星。他还研究过包括弥漫的星际带在内的星际物质。在他退休前不久，他成功地检测出仙女座R变星和其他红变星中的锝。由于锝没有稳定的同位素，它必须是近期内在恒星中形成的，因此，这也是核合成S-过程的一个直接证据。

奖励

• 获奖与荣誉
• 美国国家科学院亨利·德雷伯奖章（1945年）；
• 太平洋天文学会布鲁斯奖（1946年）；
• 美国天文学会亨利·诺利斯·罗素讲座（1955年）；

美国文理科学院院士（1958年）。

纪念

月球上的梅里尔环形山

Paul Willard Merrill (August 15, 1887 – July 19, 1961) was an American astronomer whose specialty was spectroscopy. He was the first person to define S-type stars, in 1922.

Career

Merrill received his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley in 1913. He spent the bulk of his career at Mount Wilson Observatory, from which he retired in 1952. He studied unusual stars, particularly long-period variable stars, using spectroscopy. He also studied the interstellar medium, including diffuse interstellar bands. Shortly before he retired, he succeeded in detecting technetium in the variable star R Andromedae and other red variables. Since technetium has no stable isotopes, it must have been produced recently in any star in which it is found, and this is direct evidence of the s-process of nucleosynthesis.

Honors

• Awards and honors
• Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1929)
• Member of the American Philosophical Society (1939)
• Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1945)
• Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1946)
• Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society (1955)
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1958)
• Named after him
• Merrill (crater) on the Moon