George O. Abell

At 56 years old, George O. Abell physical status not available right now. We will update George O. Abell's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Abell's first professional astronomical occupation came as a Caltech grad student when he was an observer on the National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Several scientific advances came out of this work including,

An extended version of the clusters of galaxies catalogue was published after Abell's death in 1987 under the authorship of Abell, Harold G. Corwin and Ronald P. Olowin. This extended catalog includes clusters seen from the southern hemisphere, lists approximately 4,000 clusters of galaxies and includes thirty members with a redshift up to z = 0.2. (See List of Abell clusters.)

Abell taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for 17 years where he was known as an outstanding and brilliant teacher. He believed that the cornerstone of teaching science is to present how and why the facts are known to be facts; and not in the mere presentation of facts that might amaze, sensationalize, entertain but not enlighten the listener.

Abell chaired the UCLA Astronomy Department for seven years 1968 to 1975. He also served on several university committees and commissions, such as,

During the period of student unrest in the 1960s Abell was an active member and organizer of the unofficial Committee for Responsible University Government. This was due to his belief that faculty and administration standards were weakening as a result of the unrest.

Abell was a leader and teacher in the Summer Science Program for talented high school students. At Thatcher School in Ojai, California he and others taught college-level physics, mathematics and astronomy to these students. A number of them went on to pursue distinguished careers in science. One such is Ed Krupp the long-time director of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

Abell also lectured at other venues, specifically at many small colleges that lacked astronomy departments. He also strove to bring the stories of science and astronomy to the people through public lectures.

He wrote several books including Exploration of the Universe a textbook widely used in undergraduate astronomy courses.

He helped produce educational TV programs/series such as Project Universe and Understanding Space and Time. He also appeared in some of these as himself, an astronomer. Project Universe was a 30 part introductory course on astronomy that featured Ed Krupp director of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Abell and Julian Schwinger created Understanding Space and Time in 16 parts to explain in layman's terms celestial mechanics, relativity, and the large scale structure of the universe.

Abell was not just a teacher of astronomy and science, he also taught about popular topics with no scientific evidence. He was a debunker of astrology, pseudoscience, and the occult. In a tribute to Abell in The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Lawrence H. Aller wrote,

His opposition to such forces took many forms, in writings, and in television appearances. He was one of the co-founders of the Committee on Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal now known as CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Abell was a contributor to the organization's journal Skeptical Inquirer.

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