Bertil Lindblad

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Bertil Lindblad (Örebro November 26 1895 – Saltsjöbaden (outside Stockholm) June 25 1965) was a Swedish astronomer.

After finishing his secondary education at Örebro högre allmänna läroverk, Lindblad matriculated at Uppsala University in 1914. He received his filosofie magister degree in 1917, his filosofie licentiat degree in 1918 and completed his doctorate and became a docent at the university in 1920. From 1927 he was professor and astronomer of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and head of the Stockholm Observatory.

Lindblad studied the theory of the rotation of galaxies. By making careful observations of the apparent motions of stars, he was able study the rotation of the galaxy. He deduced that the rate of rotation of the stars in the outer part of the galaxy, where the Sun is located, decreased with distance from the galactic core. This deduction was soon confirmed by Jan Oort in 1927.

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