Summary Information
At a Glance
| Bib ID: | 5490814 View CLIO record |
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| Creator(s): | Prendergast, Kevin H. |
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| Title: | Kevin H. Prendergast Papers,
1954-1990
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| Physical description: | 20 lin. ft. (ca. 5,000 items in 48 boxes).
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| Language(s): | In English
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| Access: |
This collection has no restrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
More information » |
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Arrangement
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into 12 series:
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Description
Scope and Content
Correspondence, manuscripts, lectures, notes, and printed materials of Kevin H. Prendergast, a prominent astronomer who worked in the fields off dynamics of many-body systems, the rotation curves of galaxies, and X-ray binary systems.
Series I: Personal
Subseries I.1: Photography
Subseries 1.2: Correspondence
Series II: Astronomy
Subseries II.1: Cosmology
Subseries II.2: Dynamics of Galaxies: General
Subseries II.3: Dynamics of Galaxies: Spiral Galaxies
Subseries II.4: Dynamics of Galaxies: Barred Spiral Galaxies
Subseries II.5: Dynamics of Galaxies: Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies (and Elliptical Galaxies)
Subseries II.6: Dynamics of Galaxies: Star-Gas Interactions in Galaxies
Subseries II.7: Star Clusters
Subseries II.8: Accretion Disks
Subseries II.9: Asteroid
Subseries II.10: Few- and N-body Problems, and Celestial Mechanics
Subseries II.11: Hydrodynamics, Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, and Gas-Kinetic Theory
Subseries II.12: Magnetohydrodynamics
Series III: Dynamical Systems and Applied Mathematics
Series IV: Numerical Hydrodynamics
Series V: Applications of Hydrodynamics and Rarified Gas Dynamics
Series VI: Miscellaneous
Series VII: Published Papers
Series VIII: Lecture Notes
Subseries VIII.1: Graduate School Courses (developed by K. Prendergast)
Subseries VIII.2: Lecture notes on undergraduate courses
Subseries VIII.3: Lecture notes on graduate school courses (developed by others)
Series IX: Astronomy Department/Professional Organizations
Series X: Ephemera
Series XI: Papers by Others
Series XII: Printed Material
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Using the Collection
Offsite
Access Restrictions
This collection has no restrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
More information and link to off-site request form
Restrictions on Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Kevin H. Prendergast Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University Libraries Digital Library Program Division
Processing Information
Papers processed 10/2005 Wei-Hwan Chiang.
Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT conversion June 26, 2009
Finding aid written in English.
2010-02-24
Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.
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Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Subjects
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History / Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Prendergast received his Ph.D. at Columbia in 1954 and then went to the University of Chicago, returning to Columbia as a professor in 1962. He chaired the Columbia astronomy department from 1978 to 1984, retiring in 2000 with a long trail of successful young theorists in his wake. Prendergast was an icon in the field of dynamics of many-body systems. He also was well known for a series of papers in the 1960s and 1970s, written with Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge, on understanding the rotation curves of galaxies. Numerous theoretical studies of the structure of galaxies followed, and he was a pioneer in the study of X-ray binary systems. In addition to Prendergast's professional accomplishments, he was also a skilled pianist and an avid sailor. During his long career, Prendergast became famous for using yellow legal pads, on which he had scrawled analyses of many problems in astronomical dynamics. His classes were renowned for the exactitude of his standards and the high percentage of faculty in attendance. During one year, regularly attending faculty outnumbered students.
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