William Weber Coblentz (20.02.1873 —15.09.1962) was an American physicist and astrophysicist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He graduated from Cornell University (1901). In 1904-45 he worked at the National Bureau of Standards.
His main research concerned infrared spectroscopy. He studied emission, absorption and reflection spectra, the radiation of stars and planets, and bioluminescence. With his work “Investigations of Infrared Spectra” (1905) he laid the foundations of infrared spectroscopy. He made the first determinations of the temperatures of celestial bodies (planets) by spectroscopic methods. His research was also in the fields of stellar radiometry, phototherapy and the study of the photoelectric properties of materials.
The P. Janssen (1920), B. Rumford (1937) and Ives (1945) Medals and others.