Ivan R. King

Ivan Robert King was born on June 25, 1927, in Queens, New York, the son of Myram King and Anne née Franzblau.[2][3][4] He was awarded an academic scholarship to Lawrence Woodmere Academy, where he completed his elementary and secondary schooling.[3] At the age of sixteen he enrolled at Hamilton College, graduating at nineteen with a Bachelors degree in German, Physics and Mathematics. He then entered the Astrophysics graduate program at Harvard University, obtaining a PhD in 1952, at age of 25.[3]

In 1952 he served with United States Naval Reserve, for two years before working for the Department of Defense, until 1956, using his expertise in computing and cryptanalysis.[3] He then joined the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, before taking up a position at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964.[3] Between 1967 and 1970 he served as the Chair of the Astronomy Department. He was made an Emeritus Professor in 1993. In 2002 he joined the University of Washington, as a research professor, where he remained scientifically active for the next decade.[3]

King co-authored three books and nearly 300 scientific papers.[3][5]

In 1966 King published a series of papers on the dynamical models of globular clusters. The models were based on the Fokker-Planck equation and represented the simplest possible static dynamic models of motions. These "King model" papers have been cited on over 2,000 papers subsequently.[5]

King's PhD thesis was devoted to developing stellar photometry standards. This formed the basis for the study of globular clusters.[5]

King played an early role in the conception and build of the Faint Object Camera. He used this camera to study globular clusters, including Andromeda Galaxy.[5]

In 1952 King married Alice Greene, with whom he had four children. He divorced in 1982 and married Judy Schultz in 2002.[2][3][4]

He died on August 31, 2021, from complications following a surgery, at the age of 94.[2][3][4]