Frank John Kerr

Frank John Kerr (8 January 1918 – 15 September 2000) was an Australian astronomer and physicist who made contributions to human understanding of the galactic structure of the Milky Way.

Born in St Albans to Australian parents, Kerr returned with his family to Australia after the completion of World War I.

In 1940, Frank had joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) radiophysics laboratory in Sydney, Australia under the mentorship of Joseph Lade Pawsey.

Kerr coined the term "galactic warp" to refer to the distorting effect of the Magellanic Clouds' gravity on the shape of our own galaxy.

[2] From 1978 to 1985, Kerr then acted as the Provost of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Engineering Division at the University of Maryland.