Jan Hendrik Oort biography

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Jan Hendrik Oort was born on April 28, 1900 in Franeker, Friesland. An astronomer, Oort's work confirmed Bertil Lindblad's theory that the Milky Way rotates in its own plane around the center of the galaxy. He also proved that the Earth's sun is 30,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy. Oort served as the president of the International Astronomical Union from 1958-1961. He died in 1992.