Van den Berg, Sydney

Sidney Van den Bergh ( Dutch: Sidney van den Bergh ; born May 20, 1929, Wassenar , the Netherlands) is a Canadian astronomer ^[2] , a member of the Royal Society of London, an officer of the Order of Canada.

He showed interest in science from early childhood, learned to read books on astronomy. Besides astronomy, he also loved geology and archeology . His parents gave him books on science, a telescope, a microscope, although they wished him a more practical career, and to do astronomy only as a hobby. He studied at Leiden University in the Netherlands from 1947 to 1948. He continued his studies at Princeton University for a scholarship, where he received a bachelor's degree in art in 1950. In December 1950, he lived in Columbus, Ohio and confirmed his interest in astronomy ^[3] . He received master's degrees from Ohio State University (1952) and a Doctor of Science (Dr. rer. Nat.) From the University of Gottingen (1956).

He taught at Ohio State University from 1956 to 1958, before moving to Toronto in 1958, where he spent the first part of his career at the Observatory. David Dunlap (DDO) University of Toronto . At DDO, he introduced innovations, including: equipment expansion, the use of computers, and multi-color photometry . Despite the fact that the direction of his research was the Moon and other parts of the solar system , he is better known for his work on extragalactic astronomy about nebulae , star clusters , variable stars , supernovae , and later updating the estimate of the age of the universe . He opened the galaxy of Andromeda II ^[4] .

The second part of his career began in 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia , at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory , whose director he was appointed in 1977 and took up this post in 1978, remaining in this position until 1986, when he retired and accepted the new role of the chief part-time researcher ^[5] . He was President of the Canadian Astronomical Society and Vice President of the International Astronomical Union from 1972 to 1982.

Since 1982, he was chairman and chairman of the board of the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope corporation in Hawaii.