Who was Jan Hendrik Oort?
Q: Who was Jan Hendrik Oort?
A: Jan Hendrik Oort was a Dutch astronomer who was one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century.
Q: What were some of Oort's contributions to astronomy?
A: Oort's contributions to astronomy included significant contributions to understanding the Milky Way and pioneering in the field of radio astronomy.
Q: What did Oort prove about the Milky Way?
A: Oort proved that the Milky Way rotates.
Q: What did Oort suggest about invisible matter?
A: Oort suggested the existence of invisible dark matter in 1932, when he found that the visible mass in the Milky Way was not enough to explain its rotation.
Q: What is dark matter?
A: Dark matter is now thought to make up about 84.5% of the total matter in the Universe, and its gravitational pull causes the clustering of stars into galaxies and galaxies into connecting strings of galaxies.
Q: Was Oort famous during his lifetime?
A: Yes, Oort was famous during his lifetime. In 1955, he was named one of Life Magazine's 100 most famous living people.
Q: What is the Oort cloud?
A: The Solar System's Oort cloud is named after Jan Hendrik Oort.