{{short description|American astronomer and science writer (1938–2022)}}

{{Infobox person | name = James Bailey "Jim" Kaler | image = James_B._Kaler.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|12|29}} | birth_place = Albany, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|11|26|1938|12|29}} | occupation = Astronomer, science writer | education = University of Michigan, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, UCLA | alma_mater = University of Michigan, UCLA | years_active = 1961–2003 | employer = University of Illinois }}

'''James Bailey "Jim" Kaler''' (December 29, 1938 – November 26, 2022) was an American astronomer and science writer.

== Personal life and education == Kaler was born to Earl and Hazel Holmgren Kaler on December 29th, 1938. After elementary and high-school education in Albany, New York, Kaler earned his A.B. at the University of Michigan in 1960. He attended graduate school at the University of Michigan (1960–61), at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Germany, 1961–62), and UCLA (1962–64), where he also obtained his Ph.D. in Astronomy 1964. His thesis advisor was Lawrence H. Aller. He was married to Maxine Grossman and they had four children.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=James Kaler Obituary (1938 - 2022) - Champaign, IL - The News-Gazette |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/news-gazette/name/james-kaler-obituary?id=38262766 |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=Legacy.com}}</ref> Kaler died due to complications of Parkinson's Disease on November 26, 2022, at the age of 83.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parks |first=Jake |date=2022-12-05 |title=Jim Kaler, world-renowned expert on stars, dies at age 83 |url=https://www.astronomy.com/science/jim-kaler-world-renowned-expert-on-stars-dies-at-age-83/ |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=Astronomy Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Professional career == Kaler started his professional career with appointments as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Michigan from 1958 to summer 1960. In 1961 he worked as an astronomer with the United States Naval Observatory. In 1964 he was appointed as an assistant professor of Astronomy by the University of Illinois, and promoted to associate professor in 1968 and to a full professor position in 1976 (all at University of Illinois). Since 1995 he is Campus Honors Faculty.<ref name="illinoisii">{{cite web |url=http://news.illinois.edu/ii/03/1106/retirees.html |title=Faculty members and academic professionals retire |publisher=News.illinois.edu |date= |accessdate=2010-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804145858/http://news.illinois.edu/ii/03/1106/retirees.html |archive-date=2010-08-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2003 he retired to become professor emeritus at the University of Illinois.<ref name="illinoisii"/>

Kaler published over 120 papers. Examples include work on * the chemical composition of planetary nebulae<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1970ApJ...160..887K |title=1970ApJ...160..887K Page 887 |publisher=Adsabs.harvard.edu |date= 1970|bibcode=1970ApJ...160..887K |accessdate=2010-01-25 |last1=Kaler |first1=James B. |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=160 |page=887 |doi=10.1086/150479 }}</ref> including their electron densities,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1989ApJ...343..811S |title=1989ApJ...343..811S Page 811 |publisher=Adsabs.harvard.edu |date= 1989|bibcode=1989ApJ...343..811S |accessdate=2010-01-25 |last1=Stanghellini |first1=Letizia |last2=Kaler |first2=James B. |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=343 |page=811 |doi=10.1086/167751 }}</ref> on * emission lines of planetary and diffuse nebulae,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1976ApJS...31..517K |title=1976ApJS...31..517K Page 517 |publisher=Adsabs.harvard.edu |date= 1976|bibcode=1976ApJS...31..517K |accessdate=2010-01-25 |last1=Kaler |first1=J. B. |journal=The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series |volume=31 |page=517 |doi=10.1086/190390 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1989ApJS...69..495S |title=1989ApJS...69..495S Page 495 |publisher=Adsabs.harvard.edu |date= 1989|bibcode=1989ApJS...69..495S |accessdate=2010-01-25 |last1=Shaw |first1=Richard A. |last2=Kaler |first2=James B. |journal=The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series |volume=69 |page=495 |doi=10.1086/191320 }}</ref> on * the development of shells in planetary nebulae,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1974AJ.....79..594K |title=1974AJ 79..594K Page 594 |publisher=Adsabs.harvard.edu |date= 1974|bibcode=1974AJ.....79..594K |accessdate=2010-01-25 |last1=Kaler |first1=James B. |journal=The Astronomical Journal |volume=79 |page=594 |doi=10.1086/111580 }}</ref> and on * stellar evolution.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1990ApJ...359..392K |title=1990ApJ...359..392K Page 392 |publisher=Adsabs.harvard.edu |date= 1990|bibcode=1990ApJ...359..392K |accessdate=2010-01-25 |last1=Kaler |first1=James B. |last2=Shaw |first2=Richard A. |last3=Kwitter |first3=Karen B. |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=359 |page=392 |doi=10.1086/169073 }}</ref>

He has served as president of the board of directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific<ref>{{cite web |title=Astronomical Society of the Pacific: Past Board Presidents and Executive Directors |url=https://astrosociety.org/who-we-are/board/past-board-presidents-and-executive-directors.html |website=astrosociety.org |language=en}}</ref> and of the Board of the Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra.

== Honors and awards == * He has held Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/results?query=Kaler&lower_bound=1925&upper_bound=2010&competition=ALL&fellowship_category=ALL&x=0&y=0|title=www.gf.org/fellows/results?query=Kaler&lower_bound=1925&upper_bound=2010&competition=ALL&fellowship_category=ALL&x=0&y=0<!--INSERT TITLE-->|access-date=2010-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603235553/http://www.gf.org/fellows/results?query=Kaler&lower_bound=1925&upper_bound=2010&competition=ALL&fellowship_category=ALL&x=0&y=0|archive-date=2011-06-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> and has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liège in Belgium<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.illinois.edu/NEWS/08/0213kaler.html |title=Illinois professor receives astronomy education prize &#124; Archives &#124; News Bureau &#124; University of Illinois |publisher=News.illinois.edu |date= |accessdate=2010-01-25 |archive-date=2008-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029055439/http://news.illinois.edu/news/08/0213kaler.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the University of Mexico. * He gave the Armand Spitz Lecture to the Great Lakes Planetarium Association<ref>{{cite web |url=http://glpa.org/proceedingsab1999 |title=GLPA Conference Proceedings: 1999 |publisher=Glpa.org |date= |accessdate=2016-10-16 |archive-date=2016-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018224155/http://glpa.org/proceedingsab1999 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the Margaret Noble Address to the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society. * In 2003 he received the 2003 Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.illinois.edu/ii/03/1002/PEAwards.html |title=Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement |publisher=News.illinois.edu |date=2003-10-02 |accessdate=2010-01-25 |archive-date=2011-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716025006/http://news.illinois.edu/ii/03/1002/PEAwards.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> by the University of Illinois. * In 2008 he received the American Astronomical Society's Education Prize.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astrosociety.org/news/kaleraward.html |title=ASP: ASP President Jim Kaler Receives AAS 2008 Education Award |publisher=Astrosociety.org |date= |accessdate=2010-01-25 |archive-date=2010-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610132544/http://www.astrosociety.org/news/kaleraward.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> * He was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/aas-fellows|title=AAS Fellows|publisher=AAS|accessdate=29 September 2020}}</ref> * Asteroid 17851 Kaler, discovered by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program in 1998, was named after him, honoring his outreach activities.<ref>{{cite web|author=Alan Chamberlin |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=1998%20JK;orb=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#discovery |title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser |publisher=Ssd.jpl.nasa.gov |date= |accessdate=2010-01-25}}</ref>

==Works== Jim Kaler has written for a variety of magazines, and was a consultant for Time-Life Books. He has long appeared on Illinois television and radio. In addition to two textbooks and three audio courses, he published several books, including<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=James+B.+Kaler&Search_Code=GKEY^*&CNT=100&hist=1&type=quick |title=Titles List (Library of Congress Online Catalog) |publisher=Catalog.loc.gov |date= |accessdate=2010-01-25}}</ref> * First Magnitude: A Book of the Bright Sky * Stars and their Spectra, * The Ever-Changing Sky, * Extreme Stars (American Association of Publishers Outstanding Professional and Scholarly Title in Physics and Astronomy for 2001), * The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stars, * Stars and Cosmic Clouds, * The Little Book of Stars, * The Hundred Greatest Stars, and * Heaven's Touch (selected Book of the Week by Times Higher Education in September 2009<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=408303 |title=Book of the week: Heaven's Touch: From Killer Stars to the Seeds of Life, How We Are Connected to the Universe |publisher=Times Higher Education |date=2009-09-24 |accessdate=2010-01-25}}</ref>).

His online star database "[http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sowlist.html STARS]" has scored more than 4 million visitors since its release in 1988.

== References == {{reflist|2}}

== External links == *[http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/vita.html CV/Resumé] University of Illinois *[http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/bio.html Biographical Sketch] University of Illinois *[https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/news-gazette/name/james-kaler-obituary?id=38262766 Obituary in the Champaign (Illinois) News Gazette]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaler, James B.}} Category:1938 births Category:American astronomers Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Fellows of the American Astronomical Society Category:2022 deaths Category:20th-century American science writers