Jacobus Kapteyn

Prof Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn FRS FRSE LLD (19 January 1851 – 18 June 1922) was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way. He found that the apparent movement of stars was not randomly distributed but had two preferential directions: the two star streams. This discovery was later reinterpreted as evidence for galactic rotation. Kapteyn also suggested that these stellar velocities could be used to find the amount of non-luminous matter in the galaxy.

For the Dutch-Ghanaian minister, see Jacobus Capitein.

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn
Jacobus Kapteyn. Painting by Jan Veth (1921).
Born(1851-01-19)19 January 1851
Barneveld
Died18 June 1922(1922-06-18) (aged 71)
Amsterdam
NationalityNetherlands
Alma materUniversity of Utrecht
Known fordiscovery of evidence for galactic rotation
AwardsBruce Medal 1913
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
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