| Joel Stebbins Born: 30-Jul-1878
Birthplace: Omaha, NE
Died: 16-Mar-1966
Location of death: Palo Alto, CA
Cause of death: Cancer - Leukemia
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Astronomer Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Photoelectric photometry Astronomer Joel Stebbins investigated eclipsing binaries, and the effects of interstellar dust on light absorption and the perceived colors of galaxies. He devised a photoelectric cell and infrared filter that allowed stargazers to pierce some of the cosmic clouds that inhibit study of the Milky Way's galactic center. Stebbins' experiments with plates hypersensitive to ultraviolet light revealed numerous nebulae that had previously been invisible. His numerous improvements to photoelectric photometry helped that technique progress until it replaced photography as the standard for astronomy. Father: Charles Sumner Stubbins (accountant, b. 1848)
Mother: Sarah Ann Stubbs Stebbins (b. 1846)
Sister: Eunice Stebbins (school teacher)
Sister: Millicent Stebbins (school teacher, b. 1883)
Wife: May Louise Prentiss Stebbins (m. 27-Jun-1905, d. 1970)
Son: Robert Stebbins (attorney, b. circa 1907)
Daughter: Isabelle Stebbins Dodge (b. circa 1910)
University: BS, University of Nebraska (1899)
Scholar: University of Wisconsin at Madison
University: PhD Physics, University of California at Berkeley (1903)
Administrator: Director of Observatory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1903-22)
Administrator: Director of Washburn Observatory, University of Wisconsin at Madison (1922-48)
Scholar: Lick Observatory, University of California at Santa Cruz (1948-58)
Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal 1950
Bruce Medal 1941
Henry Draper Medal 1915
Rumford Prize 1913
American Astronomical Society
National Academy of Sciences
Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
Asteroid Namesake 2300 Stebbins
Author of books:
Measuring the Light of the Stars (1916)
Photo-Electric Photometry of Stars (1928, with Charles M. Huffer)
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