Nicholas Mayall
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Ulrich Mayall (May 9, 1906 – January 5, 1993) was an American observational astronomer
. After obtaining his doctorate
from the University of California, Berkeley
, Mayall worked at the Lick Observatory
, where he remained from 1934–1960, except for a brief period at MIT's Radiation Laboratory during World War II
.
During his time at Lick, Mayall contributed to astronomical knowledge of nebulae, supernovae, spiral galaxy
internal motions, the redshift
s of galaxies, and the origin, age, and size of the Universe. He played a significant role in the planning and construction of Lick's 120 inches (3 m) reflector, which represented a major improvement over its earlier 36 inch (0.9144 m) telescope.
From 1960, Mayall spent 11 years as director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory
until his retirement in 1971. Under his leadership KPNO, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
, developed into two of the world's top research observatories, equipped with premier telescopes. Mayall was responsible for the construction of the 4 metres (157.5 in) Kitt Peak reflector, which was named after him. When Mayall died in 1993, his ashes were spread high on an empty ridge of Kitt Peak.
. His mother, Olive Ulrich Mayall, despite never attending college herself, set high educational standards for Mayall and his younger brother (Edwin, Jr., born 1907). Sometime between his brother's birth and 1913, the family moved to California's Modesto area, where Mayall entered first grade. Some time before 1917, they moved again, to Stockton
where they remained until 1924 and Mayall's graduation from Stockton High School (except for a brief return to Peoria, Illinois
during 1918–1919). During this period, presumably during his high school
years, Mayall's parents divorced.
During his senior year
, in the fall of 1923, Mayall was secretary of the school science club and set up a club visit to the Lick Observatory
. His father permitted him to use his car, a Moline Knight, to transport the club members up the dirt and gravel winding mountain road leading to the observatory. This was Mayall's first visit to the observatory where he would spend much of his career. After visiting, he read all the astronomy books available in the local libraries, although he did not at that time imagine making astronomy his profession.
, studying for a degree in mining
. He took up residence with his mother in an apartment on Durant Avenue, and worked at the UC Berkeley library to help support them both. Mayall generally did well at university, and was eventually elected to the Sigma Xi
and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies. However, at mid-term examinations of his second year, he achieved poor grades in mineralogy and chemistry laboratory. At a meeting with the dean to discuss his grades the latter became aware that Mayall was color blind, which prevented him from observing small color changes in bead and flame test
s, and also kept him from seeing small color changes in precipitations
and titration
s. Mayall's adviser recommended that he change his major
, as he would not be able to graduate as a mining engineer with such a handicap.
Mayall's mother encouraged him to study whatever interested him the most, and to do it well, so he considered astronomy
as an alternative to mining. After asking many professors in the astronomy department whether they enjoyed their work and whether they made a satisfactory wage, and being content with their answers, he transferred to the College of Letters and Science to major in astronomy. This did not set him back in his degree requirements because almost all of his first year studies had been in basic physical sciences and math. Eventually Mayall discovered that he greatly enjoyed astronomy, and decided upon a course of graduate level study followed by a career as a research scientist.
After graduating in 1928, Mayall decided to remain at Berkeley, as it had the best astronomy graduate program of the day. However, he took a hiatus from pursuing his advanced degree and went to work as a human computer
at the Mount Wilson Observatory
from 1929–1931, where he assisted luminaries such as Edwin Hubble
, Paul W. Merrill
, and Milton L. Humason
. This activity resulted in him co-authoring papers on Pluto
's mass and orbit with Seth Barnes Nicholson
and others, shortly after Pluto's discovery
Mayall returned to Berkeley in 1931 to pursue graduate studies. His thesis
topic, suggested by Hubble, was to count the number of galaxies per unit area on the sky as a function of position on direct plates taken with the Crossley reflector at Lick. This should have supplemented the counts Hubble himself was making using the 60 inches (1.5 m) and 100 inches (2.5 m) telescopes at Mt. Wilson. Mayall successfully completed his thesis and was awarded his PhD
degree in 1934. Hubble complimented Mayall for his work, although significant results were never achieved (nor by Hubble either) due to the lack of accurate magnitude standards for the faint galaxies that were measured and by the (then unrealized) very strong tendency of galaxies to cluster
.
While working on his thesis, Mayall had an idea of designing a small, fast slitless spectrograph, optimized for nebulae and galaxies. He believed that if it were used in conjunction with the Crossley reflector it would make that facility competitive for at least some of the work that Humason and Hubble were doing with the larger Mt. Wilson telescopes. It was never expected to compete with the Mt. Wilson 100 inches (2.5 m) instrument for stars or elliptical galaxies, which have condensed and relatively bright nuclei. The spectrograph was to be used instead to study extended, low-surface-brightness gaseous nebulae or irregular galaxies. Mayall's thesis advisor, William Hammond Wright
, and the then head of the Lick stellar spectroscopy program, Joseph Haines Moore
, encouraged him to develop his spectrograph. The device was constructed by the Lick Observatory's own workshop, and proved to be more efficient for extended, low-surface-brightness objects, particularly in the ultraviolet
part of the spectrum
, thus confirming the expectations of Mayall. With Wright's strong encouragement, Mayall had used fused quartz
to make ultraviolet transmitting optics, whereas the Mt. Wilson spectrographs used heavy glass lenses and prisms, which absorb ultraviolet radiation.
. Instead, he began his career at Lick, which was afforded by the number two janitor resigning and Mayall being given a one year position as observing assistant with janitorial duties limited to maintaining the darkrooms and keeping instrument rooms clean. The following year, one of the senior astronomers joined the Berkeley department and his salary was split between Mayall and another young astronomer, Arthur Bambridge Wyse.
On June 30, 1934, Mayall married Kathleen (Kay) Boxall from Los Angeles
, who he had met during his two years in Pasadena
. They lived in a small apartment that was part of the little astronomy village on the Mount Hamilton
summit, where all Lick astronomers resided at that time.
Using his newly built spectrograph, Mayall was the first to determine the radial velocities
of many knots of gas in the Crab Nebula
. Using these data and the previously published angular rate of expansion of the nebula, he was able to estimate its distance. Consequently, he became the first person to recognize and demonstrate that the Crab Nebula was the remnant of a supernova
observed and recorded in 1054 (SN 1054
), rather than a classical nova. Walter Baade
was instrumental in stimulating and counseling Mayall after around 1939, taking on the role previously filled by Hubble.
In 1941, together with Arthur Wyse and Lawrence Aller, Mayall studied the rotation of nearby galaxies and found that there was much matter that was too faint to be observed, but which could be detected by way of its gravitational effect. He spent about three years until 1942 researching 50 Milky Way
globular cluster
s, and found the Milky Way had about one half of the mass previously supposed.
While at the Lick Observatory
, Mayall collaborated on a 20-year project with astronomers at Mount Palomar
and Mount Wilson
on the Big Bang
theory of the beginning of the Universe. Together with Milton L. Humason and Allan R. Sandage, he wrote a 1956 paper concluding that the age of the Universe was six billion years (three times the prior estimate, and about half the modern value
), and its size three times larger than thought.
, Mayall accepted a position at the MIT's Radiation Laboratory
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
to work on radar
development. He began his work early in 1942 in Cambridge, which was the only time during his adult life that he resided outside California or Arizona. However, the climate of Massachusetts was unlike that of California, which he and his family were accustomed to, and in the middle of 1943 he arranged a transfer to the Pasadena Mt. Wilson Observatory offices. Many wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development
(OSRD) projects related to optics, aerial gunnery, aerial photography
, and bombing tactics were already in progress there. Unhappy with the management of his project and feeling his talents were not being well used, he transferred again in February 1944 to Caltech to work on the development of large rockets. There he became an expert on high-speed photography, which was used to analyze rocket trajectories. In the spring of 1945, he was transferred to a secret atomic bomb project
that also required high-speed photography. He visited Los Alamos
twice, including once around the time of the Trinity test
. By October 1, 1945, the war had ended and Mayall had returned to astronomical research at Lick.
During World War II Mayall became an important influence on Lick Observatory's future. Ever since 1931, when he had returned to Lick and Berkley after serving two years as an assistant at Mount Wilson, he had felt strongly that Mount Hamilton required a larger telescope. The astronomers at Lick were proud of their ability to achieve important results with Lick's small 36 inch (0.9144 m) Crossley reflector. Its diminutive size first became apparent in 1908, when Mount Wilson's 60 inches (1.5 m) telescope saw first light. This was accentuated by the opening of the 72 inches (1.8 m) Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
in 1917, and Mount Wilson's even larger 100 inches (2.5 m) Hooker telescope in 1919. Mayall was adept at working with the small Crossley, but understood that it could never really stand up to a competing telescope that collected nine times the amount of light. This was only going to get worse when the 200 inches (5.1 m) Hale Telescope
was completed at Palomar Observatory. Mayall and other young faculty at Lick thought that the older faculty such as Moore and Wright were too committed to the small telescopes and should have tried harder to obtain a larger reflector.
Unknown to Mayall, Lick observatory director William H. Wright and his predecessor, Robert G. Aitken, had both tried in secret to raise money for a larger reflector to replace the 36 inch (0.9144 m) Crossley Reflector. They tried both private sources as well as trying to get Robert Gordon Sproul
, the University of California President, to provide for one in the budget. Despite multiple attempts, they continued to fail, primarily due to the Great Depression. However, in 1942, Sproul asked Paul W. Merrill
from Mt. Wilson to succeed Wright, but was turned down. Agitated by the refusal, Sproul changed his stance and told the regents
that they had to find a way to raise money for a new telescope once the war ended. At about this time, Sproul promised or secretly appointed C. Donald Shane
as director of Lick, to take over when the war ended.
The plan for a large telescope was leaked around September 1944 in the form of the University's budget proposals. Wright and Joseph H. Moore, interim wartime Lick director, imagined an 85 inches (2.2 m) or 90 inches (2.3 m) reflector based upon the funds proposed in the budget by Sproul. Mayall and Gerald E. Kron sent a letter to Sproul representing the younger Lick staff members, in which they requested a meeting to discuss the kind of telescope to be built. They met with Sproul in December 1944 in Sproul's Los Angeles office. Mayall spoke of the key need for a telescope exceeding 90 inches (2.3 m). At the Caltech optical shop in Pasadena he had seen the nearly completed 120 inches (3 m) Pyrex
glass disc that was initially planned to be used as a flat
in the auto-collimation test of the 200 inches (5.1 m) Palomar
mirror and urged Sproul to have the Lick telescope use a mirror of that size. Much to their surprise, Sproul agreed.
Shane was appointed chairman of a committee formed by Sproul in the beginning of 1945, to plan the new reflector. Other committee members included Mayall, Moore, Walter S. Adams and Ira S. Bowen. The committee functioned primarily through correspondence. Mayall's first letter helped to convince Shane that 120 inches (3 m) was feasible instead of just 90 inches (2.3 m). Mayall helped to bridge the gap between the experienced team of telescope designers in Pasadena and Shane, who was more experienced as a university administrator and professor. Adams and the executive officer of the 200 inches (5.1 m) project, John August Anderson
, shared their experience, drawings and plans with the Lick design committee. On March 6, 1945, with both Mayall and Shane present, the committee decided upon the basic parameters of what would become the 120 inches (3 m) C. Donald Shane telescope
. On March 7, Mayall joined Shane, Wright and Moore (not present at the March 6 meeting), at Mt. Hamilton to choose the location upon which to build the reflector.
and focused his efforts on utilizing his slitless spectrograph, which was optimized for extended, low-surface-brightness clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. In 1946, he completed his pre-war effort to get integrated spectra of globular cluster
s and published the work. His paper was key in demonstrating that the system of Milky Way globular clusters shares only slightly the galactic rotation found in the flattened disc of interstellar matter
and young stars in our galaxy. In 1948, Mayall serendipitously discovered a type II supernova
while conducting other research.
Other research Mayall performed included the 20 year collaboration (formulated in 1935 by Hubble) with Milton Humason, to gather redshift values for all northern galaxies brighter than +13 visual
magnitude
. Mayall handled the brighter galaxies on the Crossley, while Humason tackled the fainter ones using the Mount Wilson 100 inches (2.5 m). This work resulted in the 1956 paper he co-authored with Humason and Allan Sandage, on the rate of expansion of the Universe. The paper listed over 800 redshift values (300 determined by Mayall) for galaxies measured from 1935 to 1955 at Lick, Wilson and Palomar.
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At Lick, he also studied galactic dynamics, such as the rotational motion of the Andromeda
and Triangulum
galaxies. He presented this work at a symposium on the structure of the Milky Way on June 23, 1950, at the University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor. This work demonstrated the inner solid-body rotation and the outer Keplerian motion. In 1953, together with O.J. Eggen, Mayall identified six likely globular clusters (including Mayall II
) around the Andromeda galaxy in a Palomar 48-inch schmidt plate exposed in 1948 that was provided to them by Hubble.
Gerry Kron marveled at the sensitivity of Mayall's eyes that could reach down to +17 visual magnitude using the 36 inch (0.9144 m) telescope. Mayall's eyesight later deteriorated to the point that he could no longer read.
The new 120 inches (3 m) telescope became operational at the beginning of 1960. Mayall immediately began using it, although he left Lick in September of that year.
(KPNO). With financial support from the National Science Foundation
, several universities had formed a consortium — the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
(AURA). Its purpose was to create and run a research observatory for American astronomers. The first director was Aden B. Meinel, who chose the site near Tucson
at the 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) Kitt Peak
, and oversaw the building of its first telescope, the 84 inches (2.1 m) reflector which was completed in the spring of 1960.
However, the AURA board decided that Meinel was not well suited for the job and chose Mayall to replace him on October 1, 1960, even though he had no previous administrative experience. Mayall had previously been appointed (in 1958) as a consultant to AURA, due to his experience in planning the Lick 120 inches (3 m) telescope. The board's president was Shane, who was representing the University of California, and he helped convince Mayall to accept the offer.
As director, Mayall oversaw the building of the 4 metres (157.5 in) Kitt peak reflector. It was still being built when he retired in 1971, and was completed in 1973, at which point it was named the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope
in his honor. Mayall was intimately involved in the expansion of the national observatory to the Southern hemisphere
in what eventually became the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). The 4 metres (157.5 in) Victor M. Blanco Telescope
at CTIO (identical to the Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak) saw first light in 1974 and was completed in 1976.
. He died on January 5, 1993, of complications caused by diabetes; his ashes were spread high on an empty ridge of Kitt Peak. Mayall was survived by his wife of 58 years, Kathleen Boxall, their two children: Bruce Ian Mayall (1939) and Pamela Ann Mayall, their two grandchildren: Shane Nicholas Oakes (1977) and Bryce Oakes Mayall (1979), and their great-grandchild: Matthew Oakes (2008).
Named after Mayall
Observational astronomy
Observational astronomy is a division of the astronomical science that is concerned with getting data, in contrast with theoretical astrophysics which is mainly concerned with finding out the measurable implications of physical models...
. After obtaining his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, Mayall worked at the Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
, where he remained from 1934–1960, except for a brief period at MIT's Radiation Laboratory during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
During his time at Lick, Mayall contributed to astronomical knowledge of nebulae, supernovae, spiral galaxy
Spiral galaxy
A spiral galaxy is a certain kind of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as...
internal motions, the redshift
Redshift
In physics , redshift happens when light seen coming from an object is proportionally increased in wavelength, or shifted to the red end of the spectrum...
s of galaxies, and the origin, age, and size of the Universe. He played a significant role in the planning and construction of Lick's 120 inches (3 m) reflector, which represented a major improvement over its earlier 36 inch (0.9144 m) telescope.
From 1960, Mayall spent 11 years as director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory
Kitt Peak National Observatory
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, southwest of Tucson...
until his retirement in 1971. Under his leadership KPNO, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory is a complex of astronomical telescopes and instruments located at 30.169 S, 70.804 W, approximately 80 km to the East of La Serena, Chile at an altitude of 2200 metres. The complex is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory along with Kitt...
, developed into two of the world's top research observatories, equipped with premier telescopes. Mayall was responsible for the construction of the 4 metres (157.5 in) Kitt Peak reflector, which was named after him. When Mayall died in 1993, his ashes were spread high on an empty ridge of Kitt Peak.
Early life
Mayall's father, Edwin L. Mayall, Sr., was an engineer for a manufacturing company in IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. His mother, Olive Ulrich Mayall, despite never attending college herself, set high educational standards for Mayall and his younger brother (Edwin, Jr., born 1907). Sometime between his brother's birth and 1913, the family moved to California's Modesto area, where Mayall entered first grade. Some time before 1917, they moved again, to Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
where they remained until 1924 and Mayall's graduation from Stockton High School (except for a brief return to Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
during 1918–1919). During this period, presumably during his high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
years, Mayall's parents divorced.
Senior Year
Senior Year can refer to:* Senior ; the final year in high school or college* Senior Year , the 2010 film by Filipino director Jerrold Tarog* The Lockheed U-2...
, in the fall of 1923, Mayall was secretary of the school science club and set up a club visit to the Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
. His father permitted him to use his car, a Moline Knight, to transport the club members up the dirt and gravel winding mountain road leading to the observatory. This was Mayall's first visit to the observatory where he would spend much of his career. After visiting, he read all the astronomy books available in the local libraries, although he did not at that time imagine making astronomy his profession.
Education
Mayall began college in the fall of 1924 at the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, studying for a degree in mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
. He took up residence with his mother in an apartment on Durant Avenue, and worked at the UC Berkeley library to help support them both. Mayall generally did well at university, and was eventually elected to the Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies. However, at mid-term examinations of his second year, he achieved poor grades in mineralogy and chemistry laboratory. At a meeting with the dean to discuss his grades the latter became aware that Mayall was color blind, which prevented him from observing small color changes in bead and flame test
Flame test
A flame test is a procedure used in chemistry to detect the presence of certain metal ions, based on each element's characteristic emission spectrum. The color of flames in general also depends on temperature; see flame color....
s, and also kept him from seeing small color changes in precipitations
Precipitation (chemistry)
Precipitation is the formation of a solid in a solution or inside anothersolid during a chemical reaction or by diffusion in a solid. When the reaction occurs in a liquid, the solid formed is called the precipitate, or when compacted by a centrifuge, a pellet. The liquid remaining above the solid...
and titration
Titration
Titration, also known as titrimetry, is a common laboratory method of quantitative chemical analysis that is used to determine the unknown concentration of an identified analyte. Because volume measurements play a key role in titration, it is also known as volumetric analysis. A reagent, called the...
s. Mayall's adviser recommended that he change his major
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
, as he would not be able to graduate as a mining engineer with such a handicap.
Mayall's mother encouraged him to study whatever interested him the most, and to do it well, so he considered astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
as an alternative to mining. After asking many professors in the astronomy department whether they enjoyed their work and whether they made a satisfactory wage, and being content with their answers, he transferred to the College of Letters and Science to major in astronomy. This did not set him back in his degree requirements because almost all of his first year studies had been in basic physical sciences and math. Eventually Mayall discovered that he greatly enjoyed astronomy, and decided upon a course of graduate level study followed by a career as a research scientist.
After graduating in 1928, Mayall decided to remain at Berkeley, as it had the best astronomy graduate program of the day. However, he took a hiatus from pursuing his advanced degree and went to work as a human computer
Human computer
The term "computer", in use from the mid 17th century, meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations, before electronic computers became commercially available....
at the Mount Wilson Observatory
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715 foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles...
from 1929–1931, where he assisted luminaries such as Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble
Edwin Powell Hubble was an American astronomer who profoundly changed the understanding of the universe by confirming the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way - our own galaxy...
, Paul W. Merrill
Paul W. Merrill
Paul Willard Merrill was an American astronomer whose specialty was spectroscopy.He received his Ph.D at the University of California in 1913. He spent the bulk of his career at Mount Wilson Observatory, from which he retired in 1952...
, and Milton L. Humason
Milton L. Humason
Milton Lasell Humason was an American astronomer. He was born in Dodge Center, Minnesota.He dropped out of school and had no formal education past the age of 14. Because he loved the mountains, and Mount Wilson in particular, he became a "mule skinner" taking materials and equipment up the...
. This activity resulted in him co-authoring papers on Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
's mass and orbit with Seth Barnes Nicholson
Seth Barnes Nicholson
Seth Barnes Nicholson was an American astronomer.Nicholson was born in Springfield, Illinois and was raised in rural Illinois...
and others, shortly after Pluto's discovery
Mayall returned to Berkeley in 1931 to pursue graduate studies. His thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
topic, suggested by Hubble, was to count the number of galaxies per unit area on the sky as a function of position on direct plates taken with the Crossley reflector at Lick. This should have supplemented the counts Hubble himself was making using the 60 inches (1.5 m) and 100 inches (2.5 m) telescopes at Mt. Wilson. Mayall successfully completed his thesis and was awarded his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree in 1934. Hubble complimented Mayall for his work, although significant results were never achieved (nor by Hubble either) due to the lack of accurate magnitude standards for the faint galaxies that were measured and by the (then unrealized) very strong tendency of galaxies to cluster
Galaxy cluster
A galaxy cluster is a compact cluster of galaxies. Basic difference between a galaxy group and a galaxy cluster is that there are many more galaxies in a cluster than in a group. Also, galaxies in a cluster are more compact and have higher velocity dispersion. One of the key features of cluster is...
.
While working on his thesis, Mayall had an idea of designing a small, fast slitless spectrograph, optimized for nebulae and galaxies. He believed that if it were used in conjunction with the Crossley reflector it would make that facility competitive for at least some of the work that Humason and Hubble were doing with the larger Mt. Wilson telescopes. It was never expected to compete with the Mt. Wilson 100 inches (2.5 m) instrument for stars or elliptical galaxies, which have condensed and relatively bright nuclei. The spectrograph was to be used instead to study extended, low-surface-brightness gaseous nebulae or irregular galaxies. Mayall's thesis advisor, William Hammond Wright
William Hammond Wright
William Hammond Wright was an American astronomer. He was director of the Lick Observatory from 1935 until 1942....
, and the then head of the Lick stellar spectroscopy program, Joseph Haines Moore
Joseph Haines Moore
Joseph Haines Moore was an American astronomer.He was born in Wilmington, Ohio, the only child of Quaker parents John Haines Moore and Anne Haines. He attended Wilmington College, receiving a A.B. degree in 1897. Thereafter he studied astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, and was awarded his Ph.D...
, encouraged him to develop his spectrograph. The device was constructed by the Lick Observatory's own workshop, and proved to be more efficient for extended, low-surface-brightness objects, particularly in the ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
part of the spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
, thus confirming the expectations of Mayall. With Wright's strong encouragement, Mayall had used fused quartz
Fused quartz
Fused quartz and fused silica are types of glass containing primarily silica in amorphous form. They are manufactured using several different processes...
to make ultraviolet transmitting optics, whereas the Mt. Wilson spectrographs used heavy glass lenses and prisms, which absorb ultraviolet radiation.
Lick Observatory
While Mayall hoped to join the Mount Wilson team upon earning his doctorate, there were no openings during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Instead, he began his career at Lick, which was afforded by the number two janitor resigning and Mayall being given a one year position as observing assistant with janitorial duties limited to maintaining the darkrooms and keeping instrument rooms clean. The following year, one of the senior astronomers joined the Berkeley department and his salary was split between Mayall and another young astronomer, Arthur Bambridge Wyse.
On June 30, 1934, Mayall married Kathleen (Kay) Boxall from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, who he had met during his two years in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. They lived in a small apartment that was part of the little astronomy village on the Mount Hamilton
Mount Hamilton (California)
Mount Hamilton is a mountain in California's Diablo Range, in Santa Clara County, California. Mount Hamilton, at is the tallest mountain overlooking Silicon Valley, and is the site of Lick Observatory, the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. The various summits along its...
summit, where all Lick astronomers resided at that time.
Using his newly built spectrograph, Mayall was the first to determine the radial velocities
Radial velocity
Radial velocity is the velocity of an object in the direction of the line of sight . In astronomy, radial velocity most commonly refers to the spectroscopic radial velocity...
of many knots of gas in the Crab Nebula
Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus...
. Using these data and the previously published angular rate of expansion of the nebula, he was able to estimate its distance. Consequently, he became the first person to recognize and demonstrate that the Crab Nebula was the remnant of a supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
observed and recorded in 1054 (SN 1054
SN 1054
SN 1054 is a supernova that was first observed as a new "star" in the sky on July 4, 1054 AD, hence its name, and that lasted for a period of around two years. The event was recorded in multiple Chinese and Japanese documents and in one document from the Arab world...
), rather than a classical nova. Walter Baade
Walter Baade
Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade was a German astronomer who worked in the USA from 1931 to 1959.-Biography:He took advantage of wartime blackout conditions during World War II, which reduced light pollution at Mount Wilson Observatory, to resolve stars in the center of the Andromeda galaxy for the...
was instrumental in stimulating and counseling Mayall after around 1939, taking on the role previously filled by Hubble.
In 1941, together with Arthur Wyse and Lawrence Aller, Mayall studied the rotation of nearby galaxies and found that there was much matter that was too faint to be observed, but which could be detected by way of its gravitational effect. He spent about three years until 1942 researching 50 Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
globular cluster
Globular cluster
A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers. The name of this category of star cluster is...
s, and found the Milky Way had about one half of the mass previously supposed.
While at the Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
, Mayall collaborated on a 20-year project with astronomers at Mount Palomar
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...
and Mount Wilson
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715 foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles...
on the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
theory of the beginning of the Universe. Together with Milton L. Humason and Allan R. Sandage, he wrote a 1956 paper concluding that the age of the Universe was six billion years (three times the prior estimate, and about half the modern value
Age of the universe
The age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang posited by the most widely accepted scientific model of cosmology. The best current estimate of the age of the universe is 13.75 ± 0.13 billion years within the Lambda-CDM concordance model...
), and its size three times larger than thought.
World War II
After the United States entered World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Mayall accepted a position at the MIT's Radiation Laboratory
Radiation Laboratory
The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and functioned from October 1940 until December 31, 1945...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
to work on radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
development. He began his work early in 1942 in Cambridge, which was the only time during his adult life that he resided outside California or Arizona. However, the climate of Massachusetts was unlike that of California, which he and his family were accustomed to, and in the middle of 1943 he arranged a transfer to the Pasadena Mt. Wilson Observatory offices. Many wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development
Office of Scientific Research and Development
The Office of Scientific Research and Development was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1941, and it was created formally by on June 28, 1941...
(OSRD) projects related to optics, aerial gunnery, aerial photography
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
, and bombing tactics were already in progress there. Unhappy with the management of his project and feeling his talents were not being well used, he transferred again in February 1944 to Caltech to work on the development of large rockets. There he became an expert on high-speed photography, which was used to analyze rocket trajectories. In the spring of 1945, he was transferred to a secret atomic bomb project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
that also required high-speed photography. He visited Los Alamos
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
twice, including once around the time of the Trinity test
Trinity test
Trinity was the code name of the first test of a nuclear weapon. This test was conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, in the Jornada del Muerto desert about 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, at the new White Sands Proving Ground, which incorporated the Alamogordo Bombing...
. By October 1, 1945, the war had ended and Mayall had returned to astronomical research at Lick.
120-inch (3.0 m) telescope
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. Proposed and designed by John S...
in 1917, and Mount Wilson's even larger 100 inches (2.5 m) Hooker telescope in 1919. Mayall was adept at working with the small Crossley, but understood that it could never really stand up to a competing telescope that collected nine times the amount of light. This was only going to get worse when the 200 inches (5.1 m) Hale Telescope
Hale telescope
The Hale Telescope is a , 3.3 reflecting telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California, named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, he orchestrated the planning, design, and construction of the observatory, but did not live to see its commissioning...
was completed at Palomar Observatory. Mayall and other young faculty at Lick thought that the older faculty such as Moore and Wright were too committed to the small telescopes and should have tried harder to obtain a larger reflector.
Unknown to Mayall, Lick observatory director William H. Wright and his predecessor, Robert G. Aitken, had both tried in secret to raise money for a larger reflector to replace the 36 inch (0.9144 m) Crossley Reflector. They tried both private sources as well as trying to get Robert Gordon Sproul
Robert Gordon Sproul
Robert Gordon Sproul was eleventh President of the University of California serving from 1930 to 1958....
, the University of California President, to provide for one in the budget. Despite multiple attempts, they continued to fail, primarily due to the Great Depression. However, in 1942, Sproul asked Paul W. Merrill
Paul W. Merrill
Paul Willard Merrill was an American astronomer whose specialty was spectroscopy.He received his Ph.D at the University of California in 1913. He spent the bulk of his career at Mount Wilson Observatory, from which he retired in 1952...
from Mt. Wilson to succeed Wright, but was turned down. Agitated by the refusal, Sproul changed his stance and told the regents
Regents of the University of California
The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. The Board has 26 full members:* The majority are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms....
that they had to find a way to raise money for a new telescope once the war ended. At about this time, Sproul promised or secretly appointed C. Donald Shane
C. Donald Shane
Charles Donald Shane was an American astronomer and director of the Lick Observatory of the University of California from 1945 to 1958, during which time he carried out his monumental program of counting external galaxies and investigating their distribution.In 1920, Shane received his doctorate...
as director of Lick, to take over when the war ended.
The plan for a large telescope was leaked around September 1944 in the form of the University's budget proposals. Wright and Joseph H. Moore, interim wartime Lick director, imagined an 85 inches (2.2 m) or 90 inches (2.3 m) reflector based upon the funds proposed in the budget by Sproul. Mayall and Gerald E. Kron sent a letter to Sproul representing the younger Lick staff members, in which they requested a meeting to discuss the kind of telescope to be built. They met with Sproul in December 1944 in Sproul's Los Angeles office. Mayall spoke of the key need for a telescope exceeding 90 inches (2.3 m). At the Caltech optical shop in Pasadena he had seen the nearly completed 120 inches (3 m) Pyrex
Pyrex
Pyrex is a brand name for glassware, introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.Originally, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass. In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda-lime glass, which is the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware in the US and has...
glass disc that was initially planned to be used as a flat
Optical flat
Optical flats are optical-grade pieces of glass lapped and polished to be extremely flat on one or both sides, usually within a few millionths of an inch . They are used with a monochromatic light to determine the flatness of other optical surfaces by interference...
in the auto-collimation test of the 200 inches (5.1 m) Palomar
Hale telescope
The Hale Telescope is a , 3.3 reflecting telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California, named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, he orchestrated the planning, design, and construction of the observatory, but did not live to see its commissioning...
mirror and urged Sproul to have the Lick telescope use a mirror of that size. Much to their surprise, Sproul agreed.
Shane was appointed chairman of a committee formed by Sproul in the beginning of 1945, to plan the new reflector. Other committee members included Mayall, Moore, Walter S. Adams and Ira S. Bowen. The committee functioned primarily through correspondence. Mayall's first letter helped to convince Shane that 120 inches (3 m) was feasible instead of just 90 inches (2.3 m). Mayall helped to bridge the gap between the experienced team of telescope designers in Pasadena and Shane, who was more experienced as a university administrator and professor. Adams and the executive officer of the 200 inches (5.1 m) project, John August Anderson
John August Anderson
John August Anderson was an American astronomer. He was born in Rollag, a small community in Clay County, Minnesota to the south of Hawley....
, shared their experience, drawings and plans with the Lick design committee. On March 6, 1945, with both Mayall and Shane present, the committee decided upon the basic parameters of what would become the 120 inches (3 m) C. Donald Shane telescope
C. Donald Shane telescope
The C. Donald Shane telescope is a reflecting telescope located at the Lick Observatory in California. It was named after astronomer C. Donald Shane in 1978, who led the effort to acquire the necessary funds from the California Legislature, and who then oversaw the telescope's construction...
. On March 7, Mayall joined Shane, Wright and Moore (not present at the March 6 meeting), at Mt. Hamilton to choose the location upon which to build the reflector.
Postwar Lick research
During the long period of building the 120 inches (3 m) telescope, Mayall continued to use Lick's 36 inch (0.9144 m) Crossley ReflectorCrossley telescope
The Crossley telescope is an reflecting telescope located at Lick Observatory in the U.S. state of California.-History:Given to the observatory in 1895 by British politician Edward Crossley, it was rebuilt from the ground up as it was on a very flimsy mounting. It is still being used today in the...
and focused his efforts on utilizing his slitless spectrograph, which was optimized for extended, low-surface-brightness clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. In 1946, he completed his pre-war effort to get integrated spectra of globular cluster
Globular cluster
A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers. The name of this category of star cluster is...
s and published the work. His paper was key in demonstrating that the system of Milky Way globular clusters shares only slightly the galactic rotation found in the flattened disc of interstellar matter
Interstellar medium
In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, dust, and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space...
and young stars in our galaxy. In 1948, Mayall serendipitously discovered a type II supernova
Type II supernova
A Type II supernova results from the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive star. A star must have at least 9 times, and no more than 40–50 times the mass of the Sun for this type of explosion. It is distinguished from other types of supernova by the presence of hydrogen in its spectrum...
while conducting other research.
Other research Mayall performed included the 20 year collaboration (formulated in 1935 by Hubble) with Milton Humason, to gather redshift values for all northern galaxies brighter than +13 visual
UBV photometric system
UBV photometric system, also called the Johnson system , is a wide band photometric system for classifying stars according to their colors. It is the first known standardized photoelectric photometric system. The letters U, B, and V stand for ultraviolet, blue, and visual magnitudes, which are...
magnitude
Magnitude (astronomy)
Magnitude is the logarithmic measure of the brightness of an object, in astronomy, measured in a specific wavelength or passband, usually in optical or near-infrared wavelengths.-Background:...
. Mayall handled the brighter galaxies on the Crossley, while Humason tackled the fainter ones using the Mount Wilson 100 inches (2.5 m). This work resulted in the 1956 paper he co-authored with Humason and Allan Sandage, on the rate of expansion of the Universe. The paper listed over 800 redshift values (300 determined by Mayall) for galaxies measured from 1935 to 1955 at Lick, Wilson and Palomar.
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the...
and Triangulum
Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and is sometimes informally referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy, a nickname it shares with Messier 101...
galaxies. He presented this work at a symposium on the structure of the Milky Way on June 23, 1950, at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in Ann Arbor. This work demonstrated the inner solid-body rotation and the outer Keplerian motion. In 1953, together with O.J. Eggen, Mayall identified six likely globular clusters (including Mayall II
Mayall II
Mayall II also known as NGC-224-G1, SKHB 1, GSC 2788:2139, HBK 0-1, M31GC J003247+393440 or Andromeda's Cluster is a globular cluster orbiting M31, the Andromeda Galaxy....
) around the Andromeda galaxy in a Palomar 48-inch schmidt plate exposed in 1948 that was provided to them by Hubble.
Gerry Kron marveled at the sensitivity of Mayall's eyes that could reach down to +17 visual magnitude using the 36 inch (0.9144 m) telescope. Mayall's eyesight later deteriorated to the point that he could no longer read.
The new 120 inches (3 m) telescope became operational at the beginning of 1960. Mayall immediately began using it, although he left Lick in September of that year.
Kitt Peak National Observatory
Mayall moved on from the University of California (after more than 25 years progressing from student to astronomer), to become the second director of Kitt Peak National ObservatoryKitt Peak National Observatory
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, southwest of Tucson...
(KPNO). With financial support from the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, several universities had formed a consortium — the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy is a consortium of universities and other institutions that operates astronomical observatories and telescopes...
(AURA). Its purpose was to create and run a research observatory for American astronomers. The first director was Aden B. Meinel, who chose the site near Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
at the 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) Kitt Peak
Kitt Peak
Kitt Peak is a mountain in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the location of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The radio telescope at the Observatory is one of ten dishes comprising the Very Long Baseline Array ....
, and oversaw the building of its first telescope, the 84 inches (2.1 m) reflector which was completed in the spring of 1960.
As director, Mayall oversaw the building of the 4 metres (157.5 in) Kitt peak reflector. It was still being built when he retired in 1971, and was completed in 1973, at which point it was named the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope
Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope
The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four meter reflector telescope located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973. Initial observers included: D. Crawford, Nicholas Mayall, and Arthur Hoag. It was dedicated on June 20,...
in his honor. Mayall was intimately involved in the expansion of the national observatory to the Southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
in what eventually became the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). The 4 metres (157.5 in) Victor M. Blanco Telescope
Victor M. Blanco Telescope
The Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, also known as the Blanco 4m, is a 4m telescope located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. Commissioned in 1974 and completed in 1976, this telescope is similar to the Mayall 4m telescope located on Kitt Peak. In 1995 it was dedicated and named in...
at CTIO (identical to the Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak) saw first light in 1974 and was completed in 1976.
Retirement
Mayall retired in 1971, at the age of 65, an event that was honored by a symposium held on his birthday, May 8. During his retirement, he continued to play an active role in many organizations, including the overview committee for FermilabFermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics...
. He died on January 5, 1993, of complications caused by diabetes; his ashes were spread high on an empty ridge of Kitt Peak. Mayall was survived by his wife of 58 years, Kathleen Boxall, their two children: Bruce Ian Mayall (1939) and Pamela Ann Mayall, their two grandchildren: Shane Nicholas Oakes (1977) and Bryce Oakes Mayall (1979), and their great-grandchild: Matthew Oakes (2008).
Honors
Honor Societies- Sigma XiSigma XiSigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
- Phi Beta Kappa
Named after Mayall
- Globular clusterGlobular clusterA globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers. The name of this category of star cluster is...
s:- Mayall IIMayall IIMayall II also known as NGC-224-G1, SKHB 1, GSC 2788:2139, HBK 0-1, M31GC J003247+393440 or Andromeda's Cluster is a globular cluster orbiting M31, the Andromeda Galaxy....
, Mayall III, Mayall IV, Mayall V, and Mayall VI
- Mayall II
- Interacting galaxies: Mayall's ObjectMayall's ObjectMayall's Object is the result of two colliding galaxies located 500 million light years away within the constellation of Ursa Major. It was discovered by Nicholas U. Mayall of the Lick Observatory on 13 March 1940, using the Crossley reflector...
- Minor planetMinor planetAn asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
: 2131 Mayall2131 Mayall2131 Mayall is an inner main-belt asteroid discovered on September 3, 1975 by A. R. Klemola at the Lick Observatory and named in honor of Nicholas U. Mayall who worked at Lick for many years.- External links :*... - Kitt Peak National Observatory Nicholas U. Mayall TelescopeNicholas U. Mayall TelescopeThe Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four meter reflector telescope located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973. Initial observers included: D. Crawford, Nicholas Mayall, and Arthur Hoag. It was dedicated on June 20,...