Arthur Adel

Arthur Adel (November 22, 1908 – September 13, 1994) was an American astronomer and astrophysicist. His research focused on atmospheric Spectrography. He worked at Lowell Observatory from 1936 until 1942 and was for many years a professor at what is now Northern Arizona University, both in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Early life and education Adel was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Orthodox Jews who had immigrated from Russia and Poland. The family later moved to Detroit, where he graduated from a technical high school. He worked as a machinist for a year before attending the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics in 1931 and in 1933 a PhD with a dissertation on "The Infrared Spectrum and the Structure of the Carbon Dioxide Molecule". In 1948 he was appointed professor of mathematics at Arizona State College, now Northern Arizona University, where he founded the Atmospheric Research Observatory, which had the first specially designed infrared telescope. his papers are kept at the university.

Personal life and death Adel married Catherine Backus in 1935; they did not have children. He died of cancer on September 13, 1994, in Flagstaff, at the age of 85.