Fred Whipple Biography

Fred Whipple biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Fred Whipple
OCCUPATION: Astronomer
BIRTH DATE: November 05, 1906
DEATH DATE: August 30, 2004
EDUCATION: California University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Red Oak, Iowa
PLACE OF DEATH: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Full Name: Fred Lawrence Whipple

Best Known For

Fred Whipple was a Solar System expert. His “dirty snowball” theory, which said comets are composed of ice and dirt, was confirmed in 1986.

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Fred Lawrence Whipple

APA Style

Fred Lawrence Whipple. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:28, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071.

Harvard Style

Fred Lawrence Whipple. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071 [Accessed 20 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Fred Lawrence Whipple." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 20 2013, 05:28 http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071.

MHRA Style

"Fred Lawrence Whipple," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071 [accessed May 20, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Fred Lawrence Whipple," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071 (accessed May 20, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Fred Lawrence Whipple [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071.

Bluebook Style

Fred Lawrence Whipple, http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071 (last visited May 20, 2013).

AMA Style

Fred Lawrence Whipple. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/fred-whipple-9529071. Accessed May 20, 2013.

Synopsis

Fred Lawrence Whipple was born on November 5, 1906, in Red Oak, Iowa. In 1945, he became a Harvard professor of astronomy. He was a Solar System expert, particularly about comets. In 1950, he hypothesized that comets are composed of ice and dust. Studies of Halley’s comet in 1986 confirmed this theory. He died in 2004 in Massachusetts.

Profile

Astronomer, born in Red Oak, Iowa, USA. He studied at California University, and became professor of astronomy at Harvard in 1945. An expert on the Solar System, he is known especially for his work on comets. In 1950 he suggested that they are composed of ice and dust, and that many aspects of their behaviour could be interpreted on this basis; later work, and especially the study of Halley's comet in 1986 by space probes, has confirmed this ??dirty snowball?? model.