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Discover›Science
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Bengt Edlén
Astronomer

Bengt Edlén

Famoose for

Identifying the source of mysterious lines in the solar corona’s spectrum.

Corona spectrum · Wolf–Rayet stars

Born
2 November 1906
Birthplace
Gusum
Died
10 February 1993

More people

Marie CurieDiscovering polonium and radium.Albert EinsteinDeveloping the theory of relativity.Charles DarwinExplaining evolution through natural selection.

Bengt Edlén

Bengt Edlén was a Swedish spectroscopist whose research showed that the Sun’s corona contains highly ionised familiar elements.

Early life

Education

Entered Uppsala University in 1926 and completed a doctorate in 1934.

Career

  1. 1944–1973

    Lund University

    Held a professorship.

  2. 1945

    Astronomy medal

    Received the Royal Astronomical Society’s Gold Medal.

  3. 1968

    Draper Medal

    Received the National Academy of Sciences award.

Contributions

Corona spectrum

Explained lines previously attributed to a hypothetical element called coronium.

Wolf–Rayet stars

Helped analyse their spectra.

Beyond research

Building a research community

Led physics research at Lund University from 1944 to 1973, helping develop the institution into an internationally recognised centre for atomic spectroscopy.

Sources & photo creditBiography and career ↗Biographical references ↗Building a research community — biographical source ↗

Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.

Photo: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, W.F. Meggers Collection. Attribution · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.