Title:

  The Origins of Star Formation Research: From Anaxagoras to Ambartsumian





Charles Lada
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics





Abstract:

Most of what we know about the origins of stars and planets we have
learned in the past quarter century, yet the question of stellar origins is
among the oldest in astronomy.  In this lecture I explore the question of
why it took so long for star formation to become an active branch of
astronomical research.  I will review ideas and concepts of stellar origins
from the ancient Greeks to Newton and then to William Herschel who in the
eighteenth century proposed a surprisingly modern picture of star
formation.  I will discuss the "dark ages" of the nineteenth century when
the infusion of new technology aided by physics set back research in this
field for more than a century.  Finally I will review the advances in
physics and astronomy in the early twentieth century (including the
discovery of the composition and nature of stars) that set the stage for
the renaissance in star formation research that began in the mid to late
twentieth century and continues today.