(1900–1992)
Astronomer. Oort studied at GroningenUniversityunder Jacobus Kapteyn. During 1935–1970, he was professor of astronomy at the University of Leiden and, after 1945, director of the Leiden Observatory. Oort won world fame by his scientific studies on the character of the Milky Way galaxy, and the Oort cloud of protocomets at the edge of the solar system is named for him. He was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy.
Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. EdwART. 2012.