Pioneer of Galactic Astronomy: A Biography of Jacobus C. Kapteyn

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This non-technical biography presents the scientific life of Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922), an astronomer who pioneered studies of the Milky Way Galaxy's structure. The author integrates astronomy basics and modern images to illustrate the evolution of astronomical research from Kapteyn's era to today, highlighting recent insights from the GAIA satellite. The biography emphasizes Kapteyn's influence on prominent astronomers globally, including his design of the Kapteyn Universe, an alternative to Harlow Shapley’s system. He discovered Kapteyn's Star, the second fastest-moving star, which is now one of the nearest stars with a habitable zone planet. This engaging blend of astronomy history and popular science recounts the journey of a professor without an observatory who established the first astronomical lab focused on measuring photographic plates taken elsewhere. Kapteyn shifted the field from merely cataloguing stars to measuring distances and velocities to analyze their spatial distribution and systematic motions, known as Kapteyn's Star Streams. His legacy includes pioneering applications of Galactic structure and dynamics, as well as inspiring Jan Hendrik Oort, a renowned astronomer who decided to pursue astronomy after being captivated by Kapteyn's lectures.