C/1949 N1 ( Bappu -Bok-Newkirk) The only comet discovered by an Indian

1. C/1949 N1 (Bappu-Bok-Newkirk)The only comet discovered by an Indian Presented by : Amar A. Sharma Nikaya Observatory • Image credit: IIAP Digital Repository

2. About the speaker • Been an ardent comet follower for 10 years • Visually observing comets with telescopes and binoculars • CCD imaging (photographing) comets since a year • Very interested in historical aspects of comets • Creating an international biography book on comet discoverers

3. Professor ManaliKallatVainuBappu(1927 – 1982) • Father of modern Indian professional astronomy . Founder of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP) • Completed MSc in Physics from University of Madras. Completed PhD in 1952 and joined the Palomar Observatory in California as a Carnegie Fellow • Elected as Honorary Foreign Fellow of the Belgium Academy of Sciences • Honorary member of the American Astronomical Society • Elected President of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1979, served from 1979 to 1982 • Co-discovered the Bappu-Wilson effect along with US astronomer Colin Wilson • Dreamt of building observatories at Kavalur and Kodaikanal

4. Harvard University Days • The US astronomer Harlow Shapley granted the young Bappu admission to Harvard Graduate School of Astronomy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1949, on scholarship • In 2 months after arrival , on an early morning of July 2, 1949, Bappu was observing for the first time at the Oak Ridge Observatory taking a 60 minute exposure on a photographic plate • Plates such as these are sent back to Cambridge for processing, but astronomer Bart Bok, his guide, suggested that Bappu develop it himself. A twist of luck was to come! • Upon inspection, they spotted a fuzzy smudge, and both Gordon A. Newkirk and Bart Bok confirmed the discovery

5. The Comet Bok inspecting the photographic plate with Bappu (left) and Newkirk (right) Bappu was aged just 22 at the time of this discovery • Image credit: IIAP Digital Repository

6. The Comet • Discovered at 13th magnitude in constellation of Cygnus • Astronomers calculated the comet’s orbit to be so large that it would reappear after 60,000 years [very long period] • Perihelion (closest distance to the Sun) on October 26, 1949. Distance 2.05 AU from Sun • Aphelion distance (farthest distance from the Sun) is 3033.60 AU • The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially designated the comet as C/1949 N1 (Bappu-Bok-Newkirk) after the 3 co-discoverers

7. The Comet Image credit: NASA SSD website Interactive orbit diagram and orbital ephemeris available on NASA’s Solar System Dynamics website Similar data available for all known comets and vast majority of asteroids

8. Donohoe Medal • The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) awarded 250 bronze medals to every comet discoverer between 1890 to 1950 • VainuBappuRecipient # 242 • Bart Bok Recipient # 243 • Gordon Newkirk Recipient # 244 • The 250medals are now collectors’ items and many recipients or their families have written to the A.S.P. to say that the medal is a prized family possession

9. Donohoe Medal Image credit: Publications of the ASP

10. Bappu’sDonohoe Medal MrsYemunaBappu handed over VainuBappu’s Medal to the IIA Archives, after his demise Image Credit: IIAP Archives Thanks to:Dr Christina Birdie, Librarian

11. Aftermath • News reached India and there were no congratulations offered from the government • The Education Department of the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C reprimanded the young Bappu and asked him to focus on his research instead • A cable from the Hyderabad Government instructed him to undertake research according to the terms of his scholarship. • “See that your government’s wishes are carried out in every respect,” the letter commanded.

12. Aftermath • Astronomer Fred Whipple of the Harvard College Observatory wrote a response to the bureaucrat • “This is the first occasion in my experience in which a foreign government has taken on itself the criticism of our educational methods in the Astronomy Department of Harvard University. It would be better for the Hyderabad government to communicate the reasons for its criticism to the Harvard authorities instead of reprimanding the student in such a way that he finds it difficult to follow our guidance in his advance education.”

13. Aftermath • Whipple explained that the nature of the discovery was purely accidental. • “The student’s failure to note this unusual object on his photographic plates would have been a sin of scientific omission, and his failure to announce the discovery would have been a serious neglect of his duty to the scientific world” he said. • Whipple sardonically pointed out that if the government insisted on the student confining his research to a narrow field, then it had erred in sending him to Harvard. • The above mentioned conversation letter is preserved in the IIAP Archives

14. My pursuit – Blog on Bappu’s Comet • Learnt about the comet several years ago and was intrigued • Google did not give any info on this except one small paragraph • Dug out whatever possible information could find from online archives • Compiled an in-depth blog and presented on BAS website “A treatise on VainuBappu’s Comet” in March 2009 • Blog selected by the renowned US magazine ‘Astronomy’ as a Guest Blog on their website in September 2011

15. My pursuit - The photographic plate • However, the missing link was the original photographic plate on which it was discovered • Few Indian professional astronomers quoted no one knows about its whereabouts. I decided to find out for myself • The existence of the plate was practically unknown to the Indian scientific community since 1949! • Over the course I happened to contact Prof William Liller, a good friend of Bappu from their student days • He said the photographic plate should still be around in Harvard’s Plate Stacks (humongous archives) • Prof Liller guided me to contact Prof Josh Grindlay, scientist-in-charge & Dr Alison Doane, Curator. I contacted them.

16. My pursuit - The photographic plate • Alison Doane reverted by the end of April 2013 saying “Hello Amar, BREAKING NEWS!!! I found it! Let me photograph the plate and jacket, and send you the images” • I immediately notified few professional astronomers at IIAP of the finding, including Director of IIAP • I am indebted to Prof Liller, Prof Grindlay and DrDoane for bringing to light a piece of unknown history of Indian connection at Harvard University’s Archives • It safely rests there, as with other tens of thousands of plates for Harvard’s mega digitization purposes

17. THANKING YOU Contact: amar10sharma@gmail.com