(meteorobs) FW: {MPML} Fred Whipple (1906-2004)

[Andrew.Alday at Maui.AFMC.AF.MIL]

SUBJECT: Fred Whipple

Professor Fred Whipple died today, a few months shy of his
98th birthday. He had worked at the Harvard College Observatory
since 1931 and from 1955 to 1973 directed the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory here.  He was most famous for his
theory of comets as 'dirty snowballs.'  He had foreseen the
artificial satellite era and was prepared with a world-wide
tracking network, Moonwatch, when Sputnik was launched on
4 October 1957.  Fred initiated SAO's ground-based observatory
on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona and was instrumental in the design
and construction of the Multiple-Mirror Telescope.

Aloha GMO group,

I worked at the F.L. Whipple Observatory back in the years of

'87 to '89 and will always treasure the time I was associated with

Fred Whipple as a Telescope Operator at the Multiple Mirror

Telescope Observatory.  He was truly a pioneer and a fine human

being as well and will be remembered for his wonderful work in the

field of Astronomy, both planetary and extra-galactic.....

 

Cheers, 
Andrew Alday, 
Technical Analyst, 
Boeing - LTS, Inc. 
MSSC/AEOS Obs. 
808.244.3753 
andrew.alday at maui.afmc.af.mil 

 

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