Fritz Zwicky1933
Able to infer the average mass of galaxies within the cluster, and obtained a value about 160 times greater than expected from their luminosity, and proposed that most of the matter was dark
Switzerland · Science / Astronomy. Chronological records rendered directly from the World History Database.
Able to infer the average mass of galaxies within the cluster, and obtained a value about 160 times greater than expected from their luminosity, and proposed that most of the matter was dark
Fritz Zwicky is the first to use the virial theorem to infer the existence of unseen matter, which he refers to as dunkle Materie dark matter.
He estimated that there was about 400 times more mass than was visually observable. While examining the Coma galaxy cluster in 1933, Zwicky was the first to use the virial theorem to infer the existence of unseen matter, what is now called dark matter.
Zwicky applies the virial theorem to the Coma cluster of galaxies and obtained evidence of unseen mass.
Zwicky estimated the clusters total mass based on the motions of galaxies near its edge and compared that estimate to one based on the number of galaxies and total brightness of the cluster.
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