Portrait of Fritz Zwicky

Birthday profile

Fritz Zwicky

Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (died 1974)

Born
February 14, 1898
Died
February 8, 1974
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1898

About Fritz Zwicky

Fritz Zwicky (; German: [ˈtsvɪki]; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and observational astronomy. He was the first to propose supernovas as giant explosions at the end of a star's life, and neutron stars as the remnants left over after supernovas. In 1933, Zwicky proposed that unseen dark matter would explain the much higher mass required to explain velocity dispersion in the Coma Cluster, compared to mass calculated from luminosity data. In 1933, Zwicky was the first to use the virial theorem to postulate the existence of unseen dark matter, describing it as "dunkle Materie".

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Fritz Zwicky was born

Fritz Zwicky was born in 1898. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineSpanish-American War — US gains territories
  • Technology milestoneMarie & Pierre Curie discover radium
  • World population~1.58B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWilliam McKinley
  • U.S. population71.0M

1898 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Fritz Zwicky's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18982026
Population71.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

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