Walter Sydney Adams

Walter Sydney Adams (December 20, 1876 – May 11, 1956) was an American astronomer. He is renowned for his pioneering work in spectroscopy.

Life and work Adams was born in Antioch, Ottoman Empire, to Lucien Harper Adams and Nancy Dorrance Francis Adams, missionary parents, and was brought to the U.S. in 1885 Such a star later came to be known as a white dwarf. In 1925, he reported a gravitational redshift caused by Sirius B; this was regarded as significant confirmation of Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity. It is now known that his reported measurements were incorrect. Along with Theodore Dunham, he discovered the strong presence of carbon dioxide in the infrared spectrum of Venus.

Adams died at the age of 79 in Pasadena, California.

Awards and honors Awards and honors Member of the American Philosophical Society (1915) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1917) Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1917) Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1918) Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1922) Valz Prize from the French Academy of Sciences (1923) Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society (1926) Bruce Medal (1928) Janssen Medal from the French Academy of Sciences (1934) Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) (1950) The crater Adams on the Moon is jointly named after him, John Couch Adams and Charles Hitchcock Adams.