Earth and Space News: Hungarian American physicist Leo Szilard namesake lunar crater

Showing posts with label Hungarian American physicist Leo Szilard namesake lunar crater. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Szilard Crater Parents Two Satellites on Lunar Far Side

Summary: Szilard Crater parents two satellites on the lunar far side in the crater jumble northeast of the northwestern quadrant’s Mare Marginis.

Szilard Crater parents two satellites on the lunar far side in the crater jumble northeast of Mare Marginis (Sea of the Edge) in the northwestern quadrant.

The Szilard system’s primary crater is centered at 33.71 degrees north latitude, 105.78 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern hemisphere crater registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 35.8 degrees north and 31.61 degrees north, respectively. The impact-eroded crater records easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 108.3 degrees east and 103.26 degrees east, respectively. Szilard Crater’s diameter measures 127.22 kilometers.

Parental Szilard is credited with two satellites. Szilard H makes an inward bulge on its parent’s southeastern rim. Szilard M neighbors near its parent’s south-southeastern rim.

Szilard H is centered at 32.65 degrees north latitude, 108.23 degrees east longitude. H’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes occur at 33.46 degrees north and 31.84 degrees north, respectively. The satellite obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 109.19 degrees east and 107.26 degrees east, respectively. Szilard H’s diameter spans 49.25 kilometers and equates to approximately 40 percent of its parent’s diameter.

Szilard M features a craterlet on its northwestern rim. Szilard M is centered at 31.25 degrees north latitude, 106.71 degrees east longitude. M posts northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 31.64 degrees north and 30.85 degrees north, respectively. The satellite marks easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 107.18 degrees east and 106.25 degrees east, respectively. With a diameter of 24.06 kilometers, Szilard M qualifies as the smaller of the Szilard Crater system’s two satellites.

Mare Marginis (Sea of the Edge) lies to the southwest of the Szilard Crater system. The lunar mare wraps around the lunar near side’s eastern limb in its occupancy of both sides of the moon.

Mare Marginis is centered at 12.7 degrees north latitude, 86.52 degrees east longitude. The northern hemisphere lunar mare’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes stretch from 18.59 degrees north to 9.81 degrees north, respectively. The irregularly shaped, dark basaltic plain’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 93.35 degrees east and 81.15 degrees east, respectively. Mare Marginis has a diameter of 357.63 kilometers.

Szilard Crater and its two satellites are named in honor of Leo Szilard (Feb. 11, 1898-May 30, 1964). The 20th-century Hungarian-American physicist numbered among the World War II era’s (Sept. 1, 1939-Sept. 2, 1945) pioneers of nuclear fission and of the nuclear chain reaction.

The Szilard Crater system’s location to the east-northeast of the lunar far side’s Maxwell Crater makes neighbors of Leo Szilard’s namesake crater and the crater named after the hypothesizer of Maxwell’s demon, the subject of Szilard’s doctoral dissertation at Friedrich Wilhelm University (German: Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität) in Mitte, central Berlin, Germany. Nineteenth-century Scottish mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell (June 13, 1831-Nov. 5, 1879) had conceived Maxwell’s demon as a thought experiment illustrating a possible contradiction of the second law of thermodynamics’ statement of thermodynamic equilibrium. (Thermodynamics is the branch of physics concerned with relations between heat, energy and matter.)

Szilard’s intellectual fascination with nuclear fission chain reactions and his concern over Germany’s nuclear weapon project motivated the Einstein-Szilard letter. German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879-April 18, 1955) addressed the Aug. 2, 1939, letter to 32nd U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Jan. 30, 1882-April 12, 1945). In actuality, the text of the letter was drafted by Szilard and Hungarian-American theoretical physicists Edward Teller (Jan. 15, 1908-Sept. 9, 2003) and Eugene Paul “E.P.” Wigner (Nov. 17, 1902-Jan. 1, 1995). The letter urged the development of a U.S. nuclear program.

Despite his critical involvement in nuclear development, Szilard was sensitive to nuclear weaponry’s unparalleled, seemingly limitless destructiveness. Thus, on July 17, 1945, Szilard drafted A Petition to the President of the United States, known as the Szilárd petition. The document, addressed to 33rd U.S. President Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884-Dec. 26, 1972), was signed by Szilard and 69 scientists working on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois. The Szilárd petition, which did not reach its addressee, urged against the use of atomic bombs against Japan.

In 1961, Simon and Schuster published The Voice of the Dolphins, a book of six, Cold War-themed short stories by Szilard. The title story’s international biology research laboratory, set in Central Europe, inspired the establishment of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in 1974. The intergovernment organization comprises six sites: Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany; Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, East England; Grenoble, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, southeastern France; Hamburg, northern Germany; Rome, Lazio region, central Italy; and Barcelona, Catalonia, northeast Spain. The international research laboratory’s Szilárd Library, named in honor of Leo Szilard, is housed in EMBL’s main site in Heidelberg.

The takeaways for Szilard Crater’s parentage of two satellites on the lunar far side are that Szilard H gouges its parent’s southeastern rim; that Szilard M neighbors near its parent’s south-southeastern rim; that a large craterlet on the northwestern rim distinguishes Szilard M; that, with a diameter approximating 40 percent of its parent’s diameter, Szilard M is the larger of the system’s two satellites; and that the Szilard Crater system honors 20th-century Hungarian-American physicist and nuclear pioneer Leo Szilard.

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows Szilard Crater system (upper right) and northwestern neighbor Maxwell Crater (upper center) in crater jumble northeast of Mare Marginis (lower left corner) in the lunar far side’s northwestern quadrant: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Details of Lunar Astronautical Charts (LAC) 29 (left), 30 (right) and 46 (below) show the Szilard Crater system of parent Szilard and satellites H and M in the lunar far side’s northwestern quadrant; courtesy NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University): U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac-29_wac.pdf; https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac-30_wac.pdf; and https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac-46_wac.pdf

Clemente, Bill. “The Dolphin Still Speaks: Leo Szilard and Science Fiction.” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (JHEAS), vol. 14, no. 2 (Fall 2008): 373-387.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/41274436

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Grego, Peter. The Moon and How to Observe It. Astronomers’ Observing Guides. London UK: Springer-Verlag, 2005.

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Mare Marginis.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3681

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Maxwell.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3765

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Richardson.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5027

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Szilard.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5799

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Szilard H.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13351

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Szilard M.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13352

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Target: The Moon.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/MOON/target

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Szilard Crater Honors Hungarian-American Physicist Leo Szilard.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/szilard-crater-honors-hungarian.html

The Moon Wiki. “IAU Directions.” The Moon.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/IAU_directions

The Moon Wiki. “Mare Marginis.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > M Nomenclature.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Mare_Marginis

The Moon Wiki. “Maxwell.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > M Nomenclature.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Maxwell

The Moon Wiki. “Szilard.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > S Nomenclature.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Szilard

Moore, Patrick, Sir. Philip’s Atlas of the Universe. Revised edition. London UK: Philip’s, 2005.

Szilard, Leo. The Voice of the Dolphins and Other Stories. New York NY: Simon and Schuster Inc., 1961.
Available @ https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20190414

Wigner, Eugene P. “Leo Szilard 1898-1964.” National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir. Washington DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1969.
Available via NAS Online @ http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/szilard-leo.pdf

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Szilard Crater Honors Hungarian-American Physicist Leo Szilard

Summary: Szilard Crater honors Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard, a nuclear pioneer whose Einstein-Szilard letter prompted the U.S. nuclear program.

Detail of oblique, northeast-facing view, obtained during Apollo 16 mission, shows Szilard Crater (center) with Giordano Bruno Crater (upper left corner); ray streaking from Giordano Bruno across Szilard's northwestern rim (upper left) to southeastern rim between Szilard H (bottom right) and Szilard M (center right); and Richardson E (lower left) squeezed between Richardson Crater (lower left corner) and Szilard; NASA ID AS16-M-3008: James Stuby (Jstuby), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons

The lunar far side’s Szilard Crater honors Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard, a nuclear pioneer who authored the Einstein-Szilard letter, signed by theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and sent to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, advocating U.S. nuclear development.

Szilard Crater is a lunar impact crater in the lunar side’s northwestern quadrant. The impact-eroded crater displays a rumpled western interior floor. Small and large craterlets pockmark Szilard’s relatively level eastern interior floor.

Szilard is centered at 33.71 degrees north latitude, 105.78 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern hemisphere crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes occur at 35.8 degrees north and 31.61 degrees north, respectively. The worn crater obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 108.3 degrees east and 103.26 degrees east, respectively. Szilard Crater’s diameter spans 127.22 kilometers.

Radial streaks of fine ejecta from the ray system centered on northwestern neighbor Giordano Bruno Crater extend across Szilard’s rim and interior. Giordano Bruno is centered at 35.97 degrees south latitude, 102.89 degrees east longitude. The bright crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes stretch from 36.33 degrees north to 35.6 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes are found at 103.34 degrees east and 102.44 degrees east, respectively. Giordano Bruno has a diameter of 35.97 kilometers.

Szilard Crater is classified as a primary crater in the Szilard Crater system. The primary crater parents two proximitous satellites. Szilard H gouges its parent’s southeastern rim. Szilard M perches to the south-southeast of its parent.

Szilard Crater’s west-southwestern named neighbor is Richardson Crater. The large lunar impact crater’s eastern satellite, Richardson E, squeezes between its parent’s eastern rim and Szilard’s southwestern rim.

Richardson Crater participates in a distinctive formation with craters Maxwell and Lomonosov. Maxwell Crater infringes upon southwestern Richardson. Lomonosov overlies southern Maxwell.

The Szilard Crater systems honors 20th-century Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard (Leó Szilárd). The International Astronomical Union approved the primary crater’s official name in 1970 during the organization’s XIVth (14th) General Assembly, which was held in the seaside resort of Brighton in South East England from Tuesday, Aug. 18, to Thursday, Aug. 27. Prior to its formal naming, Szilard Crater was designated as Crater 116. Approval of the letter designations for Szilard’s two satellites was given in 2006.

Leo Szilard (Feb. 11, 1898-May 30, 1964) is credited with the joint discovery of a technique for separation of isotopes (chemical element variants differing in numbers of neutrons in each atom) for medical purposes in 1934. Szilard and English physicist Thomas A. Chalmers made their discovery at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, United Kingdom. The method is known as the Szilard-Chalmers effect or process.

Szilard’s interest in nuclear fission chain reactions and his concern over Germany’s nuclear weapon project prompted the Einstein-Szilard letter of Aug. 2, 1939. Szilard collaborated with Hungarian-American theoretical physicists Edward Teller (Jan. 15, 1908-Sept. 9, 2003) and Eugene Paul “E.P.” Wigner (Nov. 17, 1902-Jan. 1, 1995) in writing the letter warning of the development of uranium as a “new and important source of energy” via nuclear chain reactions. “This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable -- though much less certain -- that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed,” the letter warned. The letter was addressed to 32nd U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Jan. 30, 1882-April 12, 1945) and was sent with German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879-April 18, 1955) as the sole signatory.

The takeaways for the lunar far side’s Szilard Crater, which honors 20th-century Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard, are that the primary lunar impact crater is located the far side’s northwestern quadrant; that Szilard Crater parents two proximitous satellites, Szilard H and Szilard M; and that the crater’s namesake physicist is credited with the Szilard-Chalmers effect for using isotopes for medical purposes, with pioneering involvement in nuclear chain reactions and with co-authoring on Aug. 2, 1939, the Einstein-Szilard letter urging development of the U.S. nuclear program.

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows lunar far side’s Szilard Crater (upper right) and satellites Szilard H (unmarked; side parent, map right) and Szilard M (unmarked; belw parent, map right), with craterlet on M's northwestern rim, in the northwestern quadrant: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

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Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19830003761.pdf

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

de Jager, C. (Cornelis); and A. (Arnost) Jappel, eds. XIVth General Assembly Transactions of the IAU Vol. XIV B Proceedings of the 14th General Assembly Brighton, United Kingdom, August 18-27, 1970. Washington DC: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Jan. 1, 1971.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Grego, Peter. The Moon and How to Observe It. Astronomers’ Observing Guides. London UK: Springer-Verlag, 2005.

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Giordano Bruno.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2172

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Near Side Lunar Crater Swift Honors American Astronomer Lewis Swift.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/01/near-side-lunar-crater-swift-honors.html

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The Moon Wiki. “Richardson.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > R Nomenclature.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Richardson

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Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Szilard

Moore, Patrick, Sir. Philip’s Atlas of the Universe. Revised edition. London UK: Philip’s, 2005.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and Department of Defense Aeronautical Chart and Information Center. Lunar Farside Chart LFC-1. Second edition. October 1967.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LunarFarsideCharts/LFC-1%201stEd/LFC-1%202ndEd/LFC-1A/

Szilard, Leo; and T.A. Chalmers. “Chemical Separation of the Radioactive Element From its Bombarded Isotope in the Fermi Effect.” Nature, vol. 134, issue 3386 (Sept. 22, 1934): 462.
Available via Nature @ https://www.nature.com/articles/134462b0

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