ASTRONOMER

Jan Oort

1900 - 1992

Photo of Jan Oort

Icon of person Jan Oort

Jan Hendrik Oort ( or ; 28 April 1900 – 5 November 1992) was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy. The New York Times called him "one of the century's foremost explorers of the universe"; the European Space Agency website describes him as "one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century" and states that he "revolutionised astronomy through his ground-breaking discoveries." In 1955, Oort's name appeared in Life magazine's list of the 100 most famous living people. He has been described as "putting the Netherlands in the forefront of postwar astronomy."Oort determined that the Milky Way rotates and overturned the idea that the Sun was at its center. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Jan Oort has received more than 286,645 page views. His biography is available in 59 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 58 in 2019). Jan Oort is the 41st most popular astronomer (down from 38th in 2019), the 86th most popular biography from Netherlands (down from 76th in 2019) and the most popular Dutch Astronomer.

Jan Oort is most famous for his theory of the Oort Cloud, which is a vast region of icy objects that surrounds the solar system.

Memorability Metrics

  • 290k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 65.21

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 59

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 11.59

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.21

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Jan Oorts by language

Over the past year Jan Oort has had the most page views in the with 28,810 views, followed by Burmese (8,545), and Dutch (4,981). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Ido (84.49%), Simple English (66.40%), and West Frisian (61.31%)

Among ASTRONOMERS

Among astronomers, Jan Oort ranks 41 out of 644Before him are Michel Mayor, Jamshīd al-Kāshī, Arthur Eddington, Fred Hoyle, Robert Woodrow Wilson, and Giovanni Schiaparelli. After him are Sosigenes of Alexandria, Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, Jérôme Lalande, Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Gerard Kuiper, and Ferdinand Verbiest.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1900, Jan Oort ranks 29Before him are Hans Fritzsche, Giorgos Seferis, Hans Adolf Krebs, Richard Kuhn, Knud, Hereditary Prince of Denmark, and Kurt Weill. After him are Choe Yong-gon, Arno Breker, Karl Wolff, Pak Hon-yong, Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, and Chiune Sugihara. Among people deceased in 1992, Jan Oort ranks 23Before him are Anthony Perkins, Ernst Happel, Li Xiannian, Satyajit Ray, Paolo Borsellino, and Daniel Bovet. After him are Peyo, Aribert Heim, David Bohm, Félix Guattari, Algirdas Julien Greimas, and Karl Carstens.

Others Born in 1900

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In Netherlands

Among people born in Netherlands, Jan Oort ranks 86 out of 1,646Before him are Tobias Asser (1838), Cornelius Jansen (1585), Bernard Mandeville (1670), Edsger W. Dijkstra (1930), Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612), and Willebrord Snellius (1580). After him are Lucas van Leyden (1494), Cornelis Drebbel (1572), Gerard Kuiper (1905), Gerard van Honthorst (1592), Martinus J. G. Veltman (1931), and Sophia of Hanover (1630).

Among ASTRONOMERS In Netherlands

Among astronomers born in Netherlands, Jan Oort ranks 1After him are Gerard Kuiper (1905), Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692), Cornelis Johannes van Houten (1920), Tom Gehrels (1925), John Goodricke (1764), Antonie Pannekoek (1873), Peter van de Kamp (1901), Jacobus Kapteyn (1851), Adriaan Blaauw (1914), Walter Lewin (1936), and Michael van Langren (1598).