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Eight Physicists and Astronomers: Biographical Portraits

This essay provides concise biographical information about eight physicists, astronomers, astrophysicists, and cosmologists from the twentieth century. The portrayed scientists are Hermann Bondi (1919-2005), Charles L. Critchfield (1910-1994), Arthur E. Haas (1884-1941), Chushiro Hayashi (1920-2010, Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931), Wilhelm Lenz (1888-1957), Franz Selety (1893-1933?), and S. Elis Strömgren (1870-1947). Because the entries were written for a biographical dictionary of astronomers, the emphasis is on the astronomical and astrophysical contributions of the scientists rather than their work in physics. While some of them are well known, others (such as Selety, Haas and Le Bon) will probably be unknown to most physicists.