Matthew Pothen Thekaekara
Encyclopedia
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was a scientist and author of many books and papers relating to spectrophotometry
Spectrophotometry
In chemistry, spectrophotometry is the quantitative measurement of the reflection or transmission properties of a material as a function of wavelength...
and the solar constant
Solar constant
The solar constant, a measure of flux density, is the amount of incoming solar electromagnetic radiation per unit area that would be incident on a plane perpendicular to the rays, at a distance of one astronomical unit...
besides works on theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
.
He was instrumental in publishing some of the earliest AM0 spectra, which is a model spectrum of the sun in space. The historic 1973 Thekaekara spectrum was the basis for ASTM E490 (American Society for Testing and Materials Standard Solar Constant and Zero Air Mass Solar Spectral Irradiance Table) from 1974 to 2000, when it was replaced by the most recent AM0 upgrade, in ASTM E490-00.
Recent publications such as a 2007 paper authored by fellow Malayali
Malayali
Malayali is the term used to refer to the native speakers of Malayalam, originating from the Indian state of Kerala...
scientist P. Shahmugan made extensive reference to the Thekaekara spectrum. In 2008 a paper by authors from NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Goddard Space Flight Center and UC
University of Colorado System
The University of Colorado system is a system of public universities in Colorado consisting of three universities in four campuses: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and University of Colorado Denver in downtown Denver and at the Anschutz Medical Campus in...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics also made extensive application of the Thekaekara spectrum.
Books
1. The solar constant and the solar spectrum measured from a research aircraft, edited by Matthew P. Thekaekara. Solar energy. Spectrum, Solar. Aeronautics in astronomy.2. Thoughts twice dyed : reprinted from the series of "One minute meditation" / by Matthew P. Thekaekara, S.J
3."The Extraterrestrial Solar Spectrum" A.J Drummond and M.P. Thekaekara, Eds. Institute of Environmental Sciences, Mount Prospect Illinois, 1973.
Sources
Matthew Thekaekara- http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/spectra/am0/special.html#Thekaekara
- http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/spectra/am0/text/Thekaekara.txt