Jesse L. Greenstein Professions : Astronomer Born : October 15, 1909 Died : October 21, 2002 Browse All Authors Top 4 quotes by Jesse L. Greenstein Knowing how hard it is to collect a fact, you understand why most people want to have some fun analyzing it. Jesse L. Greenstein fun science knowledge At the age of three I began to look around my grandfather's library. My first knowledge of astronomy came from reading and looking at pictures at that time. By the time I was six I remember him buying books for me. ... I think I was eight, he bought me a three-inch telescope on a brass mounting. ... So, as far back as I can remember, I had an early interest in science in general, astronomy in particular. Jesse L. Greenstein reading book knowledge In a sense Shapley's telling me that space was transparent, which I shouldn't have believed, illustrates a fundamental problem in science, believing what people tell you. Go and find it out for yourself. That same error has persisted in my life and in many other people's. Authorities are not always authorities on everything; they often cling to their own mistakes. Jesse L. Greenstein mistake science believe In a certain sense I made a living for five or six years out of that one star [υ Sagittarii] and it is still a fascinating, not understood, star. It's the first star in which you could clearly demonstrate an enormous difference in chemical composition from the sun. It had almost no hydrogen. It was made largely of helium, and had much too much nitrogen and neon. It's still a mystery in many ways ... But it was the first star ever analysed that had a different composition, and I started that area of spectroscopy in the late thirties. Jesse L. Greenstein stars science years Similar Authors Arthur Eddington astronomer Antony Hewish astronomer Annie Jump Cannon astronomer Andrea M. Ghez astronomer Allan Sandage astronomer Alar Toomre astronomer All Authors
