7 videotapes (Reference copies). 25 digital .wmv files and .rm files (Reference copies).
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Videotapes
Transcripts
Date:
1989
Introduction:
The Smithsonian Videohistory Program, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation from 1986 until 1992, used video in historical research. Additional collections have
been added since the grant project ended. Videohistory uses the video camera as a historical research tool to record moving visual information. Video works best in historical
research when recording people at work in environments, explaining artifacts, demonstrating process, or in group discussion. The experimental program recorded projects that
reflected the Institution's concern with the conduct of contemporary science and technology.
Smithsonian historians participated in the program to document visual aspects of their on-going historical research. Projects covered topics in the physical and biological
sciences as well as in technological design and manufacture. To capture site, process, and interaction most effectively, projects were taped in offices, factories, quarries,
laboratories, observatories, and museums. Resulting footage was duplicated, transcribed, and deposited in the Smithsonian Institution Archives for scholarship, education,
and exhibition. The collection is open to qualified researchers.
Descriptive Entry:
David H. DeVorkin, curator at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM), recorded six sessions with twelve participants to document this multi-institutional
scientific program. He was particularly interested in design and construction of the MMT; in its operation (with basic structural and optical design elements); in how astronomers
use the telescope; and in the phenomenon of "consortia." DeVorkin also visually documented the operation of the MMT, including a nighttime observing session, various artifacts
and equipment, and the interaction of former colleagues during group discussions. Interviews took place on May 8, 10 and 11, 1989, at the observatory, in a studio in Tucson,
Arizona, and at Flandrau Planetarium of the University of Arizona.
This collection consists of six interview sessions, totalling approximately 11:20 hours of recordings and 257 pages of transcript.
Please note that Session 6 is comprised of dual sets of tape from two cameras positioned at different angles.
Additional Information: See Record Unit 262, Records of the Mt. Hopkins Department, SAO, 1966-1967, and Record Unit 9520, Fred Lawrence Whipple Interviews, 1976, Smithsonian
Institution Archives. Also, consult records of the director and assistant director, SAO, for additional documentation on the MMT.
Historical Note:
Since 1979, completely new and radical designs for astronomical telescopes have emerged. The Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) was the prototype, both technically and
institutionally, for the next generation of large telescopes. The MMT was the world's first large-scale multiple mirror telescope, which used the combined light of six 72-inch
reflecting telescopes in a single altitude-azimuth mount. Computers controlled all pointing and tracking of the MMT's individual telescopes. The MMT was located at the Smithsonian's
Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. Development of this site was begun by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in the late 1960s as the Mt.
Hopkins Observatory, renamed the Whipple Observatory in 1981. The MMT was jointly developed and run by SAO and the University of Arizona (UA). This arrangement was the first
of several university and observatory consortia that have attempted larger multiple mirror and segmented mirror designs.
Session participants included astronomers, engineers and opticians who worked on virtually every facet of MMT design and development in the 1970s and 1980s. Nathaniel Carleton
received an A.B. and Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University, the latter in 1956; he taught physics until 1962 when he was appointed a physicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory. He was primarily interested in physics of the Earth's upper atmosphere but became interested in astronomy and the study of other planets. He was involved with
the development of the MMT from the beginning.
Frederic H. Chaffee was educated as a physicist at Dartmouth College and received a Ph.D in astronomy from the University of Arizona in 1968. Shortly thereafter he joined
the stellar atmospheres group at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and, under Smithsonian auspices, returned to Arizona to help establish the first optical telescope
on Mt. Hopkins. He became the first resident astronomer at the Mt. Hopkins Observatory and then resident director of the observatory during the 1970s, when the MMT was built.
He became director of the MMT Observatory in July 1984.
Craig Foltz received an A.B. in physics from Dartmouth College in 1974 and a Ph.D. in astronomy from Ohio State University in 1979. He held postdoctoral, research associate,
and teaching positions until he was appointed staff astronomer and project scientist for the MMT in 1984.
Carol Heller received a B.S. in biology from the University of Arizona and shortly thereafter became a night assistant at the 9-inch telescope on Mt. Hopkins. She began
work with the MMT four years later and was one of the few control room operators of large-scale telescopes in the world.
Keith Hege did not appear on screen, but was interviewed during the observing session by speakerphone. Hege, associate astronomer at the Steward Observatory, University
of Arizona, obtained a Ph.D in nuclear physics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1965. Hege taught at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Hollins College before joining
Steward Observatory in 1975. In 1978 he coordinated Steward Observatory's speckle interferometry program, which was applied to the MMT for cophased interferometric imaging.
Thomas Hoffman received a B.S. degree from the University of Rochester and M.S. and Professional M.E. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1954. He
served over fourteen years as chief engineer and head of the Engineering Department of the SAO in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was program engineer for the MMT. He left the
Smithsonian in 1979.
Aden Meinel, one of the key players in developing the MMT, received his B.S. and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley. He held numerous appointments,
including director of Kitt Peak National Observatory, Steward Observatory, and the Optical Sciences Center (University of Arizona). He was also professor at the Optical Sciences
Center until 1985, when he became senior scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Michael Reed was educated at Yale University and Stanford University, and received a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1969. He taught at Princeton University from 1968 through 1974,
when he received an appointment at Duke University. He worked on the various aspects of the MMT, including selection of the alt-azimuth mount during the 1970s.
Robert Shannon received a B.S. in optics and M.S. in physics from the University of Rochester. He worked with the Itek Corporation as director of the Advanced Technology
Labs before becoming professor and director of the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona in 1969.
Ray Weymann received a Ph.D. in astronomy from Princeton in 1959 and was a Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology from 1959 through 1961. He taught at
the University of Arizona in 1961, became an astronomer at the Steward Observatory, University of Arizona in 1970, and was appointed director of Mt. Wilson Observatory in
Los Angeles in 1986.
Joseph T. [J.T.] Williams designed, built, and operated astronomical instrumentation at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory sites worldwide for more than thirty years.
He studied electrical engineering and served in the U.S. Navy submarine service before joining the Smithsonian at the Haleakala Observatory (Maui, Hawaii) in 1959. After holding
several positions with SAO, Williams became manager for site planning and construction of the MMT from 1975 through 1979 and became assistant director for MMT operations and
development, in collaboration with the University of Arizona, in 1980. In the 1990 he served on the committee to convert the MMT to a single mirror 6.5-meter telescope.
Fred L. Whipple was educated at University of California, Los Angeles, and received a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1931. He joined
the staff of the Harvard College Observatory in 1931 and became a teacher there in 1932. He ultimately became the Phillips Professor of Astronomy, 1970. Whipple was also appointed
director of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1955 and shortly thereafter moved its headquarters to Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his tenure as director, Whipple
selected and developed Mt. Hopkins as an observatory site. The observatory, initially known as the Mt. Hopkins Observatory, was dedicated the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory
in 1981. He worked closely with the University of Arizona and the U.S. Air Force in developing the MMT. He retired in 1977 and subsequently held the position Emeritus Phillips
Professor of Astronomy at Harvard.
Whipple, Fred L. (Fred Lawrence), 1906-2004, interviewee Search this
Extent:
4 audiotapes (Reference copies).
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Transcripts
Audiotapes
Date:
1976
Introduction:
The Smithsonian Institution Archives began its Oral History Program in 1973. The purpose of the program is to supplement the written documentation of the Archives'
record and manuscript collections with an Oral History Collection, focusing on the history of the Institution, research by its scholars, and contributions of its staff. Program
staff conducts interviews with current and retired Smithsonian staff and others who have made significant contributions to the Institution. There are also interviews conducted
by researchers or students on topics related to the history of the Smithsonian or the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Whipple was interviewed for the Oral History Collection because of his central role in the modernization of the SAO and his outstanding contributions to science. For additional
information, see the following related collections in Smithsonian Archives: the records of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the Fred Lawrence Whipple Papers; and
Record Unit 9542, Multiple Mirror Telescope videohistory interviews.
Descriptive Entry:
Whipple was interviewed on June 24 and 25, 1976 by Pamela M. Henson. The interviews cover his education; radar countermeasure work during World War II; role in the development
of national programs for astrophysics and space exploration; research program on comets, meteors, and interplanetary material; administration of SAO; development of Mt. Hopkins,
MMT, and optical tracking programs; and reminiscences of colleagues such as Imre G. Izsak, Craig M. Merrihue, and Carlton W. Tillinghast.
Historical Note:
Fred Lawrence Whipple (1906-2004), received the B.A. in mathematics with a minor in physics and astronomy from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1927 and
the Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California at Berkeley in 1931. His early training focused on comet orbits. After teaching for a year at Stanford University,
he joined the staff of the Harvard College Observatory in 1931 and remained in Cambridge throughout his career. During the 1930s his work focused on double station meteor
research. From 1943 to 1945, he developed radar countermeasures for the U. S. Army Radiation Laboratory of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. After World War
II he worked on development of the Super-Schmidt cameras to photograph meteors and continued research on the influx of material from comets into the interplanetary medium.
His comet research culminated in publication of the Icy Comet Model in 1950. During the forties he also conducted studies of meteor hazards to spacecraft, inventing the meteor
bumper, and served on the Rocket and Satellite Research Panel. In the early fifties, with Wernher von Braun and Cornelius J. Ryan, he coauthored a series of popular articles
on the conquest of the space frontier.
His teaching career at Harvard University progressed from Instructor, 1932-1938; Lecturer, 1938-1945; Associate Professor, 1945-1950; Professor, 1950-1970; Chairman of
the Department of Astronomy, 1949-1956; to Phillips Professor of Astronomy, 1970-1977. Thus when Whipple was appointed Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
(SAO) in July 1955, he moved its headquarters to the Cambridge campus and continued as Professor and member of the Harvard College Observatory staff. He reorganized the Smithsonian's
observatory and reoriented its research program. Under his directorship, the staff grew from a handful to more than five hundred, including over sixty scientists.
At the request of the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences, Whipple began development of Baker-Nunn cameras to track artificial satellites during
the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958). With the help of Armand N. Spitz, he also developed the Moonwatch optical tracking program, which utilized teams of volunteers
observing satellites with hand-held telescopes. When Sputnik was launched in October of 1957, the Moonwatch teams were the only U. S. mechanism available to track the Russian
satellite. The SAO subsequently received large contracts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to operate the Satellite Tracking Program (STP), an optical
tracking system with Baker-Nunn camera stations located all over the globe. Whipple's satellite tracking work earned him the 1963 Distinguished Civilian Service Award from
President John F. Kennedy.
The Prairie Network, an optical tracking system designed to photograph meteorites and fireballs in order to calculate their orbits, created by Whipple and Richard E. McCrosky,
began observations in 1964. Coordination of STP camera observations with Jodrell Bank Observatory radio data on flare stars led to the first identification of radio noise
from any star besides the sun.
SAO relied on early computers such as the Mark IV, IBM 7090, and CDC 6400 for rapid processing of massive quantities of data. Baker-Nunn and Super-Schmidt camera data were
directly processed by automated means, which made possible the 1966 SAO Star Catalog, coordinated by Katherine L. Haramundanis. Whipple required direct publication from computer
tapes, a first for the U. S. Government Printing Office. Observations from the STP were progressively refined during the sixties through new laser tracking techniques and
advances in automated data processing, to provide improved geodetic and geophysical data. In the early sixties, stellar atmosphere models were developed with the aid of an
IBM 7090 and after 1966 a CDC 6400, in anticipation of far ultraviolet light data from orbiting observatories. Based on this experience in upper atmosphere research, Whipple
was appointed project director for the orbiting astronomical observatories from 1958 to 1972.
The telegraph service of the International Astronomical Union came to the SAO in 1965 under the coordination of Owen J. Gingerich and later Brian G. Marsden. It utilized
SAO's sophisticated communications network and led eventually to the creation of the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena by Robert A. Citron.
Development of an observatory site at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, began in 1966. Chosen by Whipple for its altitude and seeing conditions, the site was dedicated in 1981 as the
Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. On this site, in conjunction with the U. S. Air Force and University of Arizona, he developed the technically innovative Multiple Mirror
Telescope (MMT), which commenced observations in May of 1979.
In addition to his own research program on comets, meteors, and interplanetary materials, Whipple coordinated the SAO research programs in celestial mechanics, geodesy,
meteoritics, radio astronomy, neutrino searches, stellar atmosphere models, and the atomic clock project to test the theory of relativity. He encouraged NASA's lunar program
and development of the space telescope.
Whipple was distinguished both for his theoretical work in astrophysics and his technical innovations in such areas as tracking cameras, multiple mirror telescopes, and
meteor bumpers. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Whipple received the Academy's J. Lawrence Smith Medal in 1949 for his meteor research. He was awarded the Kepler
Medal by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1971 and the Joseph Henry Medal of the Smithsonian Institution in 1973. Through his work on numerous federal
and private boards, panels, and commissions, Whipple was influential in the development of national programs for research in astrophysics and creation of a space exploration
program.
Whipple retired from administration of SAO in 1973 but continued active research as a Senior Scientist from 1973 to 1977. Upon his retirement in 1977, he was appointed
Emeritus Phillips Professor of Astronomy at Harvard.
Covers his administrative responsibilities for the SAO, c.1959-1973, including the development of the Mount Hopkins Observatory; the formation of the Office of Contracts and Grants; and the merger of SAO and the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) into t...
Collection Creator::
Bradley, James C., 1910-1984, interviewee Search this
Container:
Interviews
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 9515, James C. Bradley Oral History Interviews
These papers consist primarily of correspondence and include photographs, clippings, research files and biographical information on John A. Wood.
Historical Note:
John A. Wood is a world leader in meteoritics and planetary science. Wood served as Geologist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), 1957-1963; Research Associate,
Harvard University, 1957-1963; Research Associate, Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, 1962-1965; Research Associate, Harvard College Observatory,
1965-2004; Geologist, SAO, 1965-2004; Lecturer in Geology, Harvard University, 1973-1976; Professor of the Practice of Geology, Harvard University, 1976-1994; and Associate
Director, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1981-1986.
Wood's primary research has been the petrological study of chondritic meteorites as a source of information about the origin of the solar system. Wood worked extensively
in lunar sample studies (during the Apollo program), and constructed global models of lunar formation and internal evolution. Wood was a member of the RADIG team that interpreted
the radar data collected by the Magellan mission to Venus. Wood has served on NASA advisory committees concerned with allocation of lunar samples to laboratory investigators,
mission planning, and peer review of grant proposals, and has chaired the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX), under the Space Studies Board of the National
Research Council.
Physical Sciences, Division of (NMAH, Smithsonian Institution). Search this
Container:
Box 3, Folder 9
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1946
Scope and Contents:
Promotion to Professor (p. 25); Howard Hathaway Aiken -Professor of Applied Mathematics. Appointments to Associate Professorship (p. 27); Donald Howard Menzel -Associate Director for Solar Research in the Harvard College Observatory.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Grace Murray Hopper Collection, 1944-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, vol. 32, no. 8, July 1930; vol. 63, no. 7, May 1961; and vol. 64, no. 1, November 1961.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Arthur Raymond Brooks Collection, NASM.1989.0104, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
