Fritz Zwicky
Fritz Zwicky | |
|---|---|
Zwicky in 1947 | |
| Born | February 14, 1898 Varna, Bulgaria |
| Died | February 8, 1974 (aged 75) Pasadena, California, US |
| Citizenship | Swiss |
| Alma mater | Swiss Federal Polytechnic |
| Known for | Dark matter, supernovae, galaxies as gravitational lenses, neutron stars |
| Awards | Medal of Freedom (1949) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1972) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | California Institute of Technology |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter Debye and Paul Scherrer |
Fritz Zwicky (/ˈtsvɪki/; German: [ˈtsvɪki]; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and observational astronomy. In 1933, Zwicky was the first to use the virial theorem to postulate the existence of unseen dark matter, describing it as "dunkle Materie".