Gale Bruno van Albada

Who was Gale Bruno van Albada?

Gale Bruno van Albada was a Dutch astronomer.

Van Albada obtained his Ph.D. with Antonie Pannekoek at the University of Amsterdam in 1945. He shared Pannekoek's communist ideologies and back in the 1930s his brother Piet van Albada had been an associate of Marinus van der Lubbe.

Van Albada was director of the Bosscha Observatory on Java from May 1949 to July 1958. On August 1, 1950 he married the astronomer Dr. Elsa van Dien who was working at the Bosscha Observatory at the time. The couple had three children, one of whom became an astronomer.

Because of the political situation the family had to leave Java in July 1958. In 1960, Van Albada succeeded Herman Zanstra as head of the department of astronomy at the University of Amsterdam.

The crater van Albada on the Moon and the main belt asteroid 2019 van Albada are named after him.