About Alar Toomre
Alar Toomre (born 5 February 1937, in Rakvere) is an American astronomer and mathematician. He is a professor of applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Toomre's research is focused on the dynamics of galaxies. He is a 1984 MacArthur Fellow. == Career == Following the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1944, Toomre and his family fled to Germany; they emigrated to the United States in 1949. He received an undergraduate degree in Aeronautical Engineering and Physics from MIT in 1957 and then studied at the University of Manchester on a Marshall Scholarship where he obtained a Ph.D. in fluid mechanics. Toomre returned to MIT to teach after completing his Ph.D. and remained there for two years. After spending a year at the Institute for Advanced Study, he returned again to MIT as part of the faculty, where he stayed. Toomre was appointed an Associate Professor of Mathematics at MIT in 1965, and Professor in 1970. == Scientific accomplishments == In 1964, Toomre devised a local gravitational stability criterion for differentially rotating disks.
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