{"id":30525,"date":"2018-08-14T16:11:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T20:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?post_type=r_cas_magazine&p=30525"},"modified":"2018-09-10T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T16:53:02","slug":"letters-2","status":"publish","type":"r_cas_magazine","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/arts-sciences\/2018\/letters-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face (and apparatus) in your photo (\u201cFrom the Archives,\u201d Fall 2017). The man at the controls is Jeff Baumgardner, a graduate student with a mechanical bent, and the device he\u2019s demonstrating was right up his alley. If I recall correctly, it was a star projector. It was originally designed to project onto a surface you looked down on. It did everything a planetarium projector does. It was acquired for free by the astronomy department because the projection was essentially backwards and could only be turned into a projection you could look up at, as in a planetarium, if you plugged all the holes and re-drilled new ones, which Jeff undertook to do. Talk about sweat equity! I remember Kenneth Janes [a professor emeritus of astronomy who taught the course shown in the photograph], as friendly and approachable. He hired me to enter photometric data from observations of the galactic center he\u2019d made at an observatory in South America. The data consisted of a seemingly endless series of three 8-digit numbers, which he wanted entered into a data file on the BU computer. I did the work at night on a terminal in the computer center (no laptops then). The work was boring and I was sleepy; if his results were off it was probably my fault. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Steve Jong (CAS\u201976, COM\u201981)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Professor Janes was my advisor; I graduated with a BS in astronomy and physics with an award for excellence in astronomy from him in 1978. He is a great teacher, and I really enjoyed working under him. I remember a lot from that photo you posted. The fellow at the controls is Jeff Baumgardner who is still in the department. The student behind him with his hand on his hip is Tim Eschrich (CAS\u201978): We were both physics majors coming up at the same time; when we were juniors, he needed a science elective, and I talked him into taking Professor Janes\u2019 intro class to astronomy. I said I\u2019d help him with any difficulties since it was my major and I was very active in the department then. I was president of the Boston University Astronomical Society (BUAS). If memory serves, Jeff was a TA then. I also ran the lab nights on the telescope for beginners and the open house nights for the public. Then of course there were the infamous \u201cstar parties\u201d up in the observatory that went very late. Great to see something of us surface after all this time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Jonathan Charles (CAS\u201978)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Were you really on an astrology <\/i>quest? The object in the photo is a planetarium projector. I am pictured at the extreme left in the photo. It was my master\u2019s thesis to rebuild this star projector and construct a dome in a classroom so that the projector could be used in astronomy classes. I believe that the other students in the photo were astronomy majors and\/or members of BUAS. A real blast from the past. I still have some of the parts from that planetarium in my office.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Jeff Baumgardner (CAS\u201970, GRS\u201977), senior research scientist at BU\u2019s Center for Space Physics<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Jeff\u2014and others\u2014pointed out that the article mistakenly said our photo editor had been on an \u201castrology mission\u201d in tracking down this photo. He was, of course, on an \u201castronomy mission.\u201d Learn more about Jeff\u2019s planetarium projector (the \u201cstar ball\u201d) here<\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

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The stellar planetarium was from NASA to train Apollo astronauts. I took an observational techniques course with Ken Janes and learned how to operate a planetarium using the projector during the late 80s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Mark Moldwin (GRS\u201990,\u201993)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I arrived at BU two years after the photo, so I don\u2019t know the students in the picture. That looks to be the planetarium machine; I do recall it being around back in the day to help show the positions on stars in the sky. I am greatly in debt to Ken Janes. He was my undergraduate advisor, and I took classes with him. My first published paper\u2014on star clusters\u2014was with him as co-author. I ended up getting my PhD in astronomy, and after moving through a few positions, I now am in charge of science planning for both the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, both flagship NASA missions. Without Dr. Janes\u2019 guidance, I would not be where I am today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014David Adler (CAS\u201982)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jeff was a grad student with me in astronomy back then. He built a planetarium in one of the class rooms, probably 515, as partial fulfillment of his master\u2019s thesis. It was a reflective half dome upon which the night sky could be projected. The picture must be him demonstrating the projector to Astronomy 101 students. I did not study with Professor Janes, but did take a few graduate classes he taught, and he was on my dissertation committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Peter Cole (GRS\u201978,\u201981)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Your article on astronomy reminded me of taking Astronomy 101 in 1958\u2014long before black holes, quarks, and wormholes were in vogue. Professor Gerald Hawkins had just arrived from England to teach at BU and a local newspaper had described him as the new \u201castrology\u201d professor. Horrified, he arrived at our first class in a huff and announced in his most clipped British, \u201cIf there is anyone here who thinks he is here to study astrology<\/i>, he may leave now<\/i>!\u201d No one departed. Subsequently, with [writer] John [B.] White, he researched Stonehenge and published his breakthrough book, Stonehenge Decoded<\/i> (Doubleday, 1965), revealing it as an ancient accurate \u201ccomputer\u201d design of moon phases. So often I have quoted Hawkins to my fellow astrologers who teach that astronomy and astrology are arguably the most ancient of Earth\u2019s sciences and were always <\/span>unified until their forced divorce by the so-called Age of Reason. As a metaphysician and trained therapist, I have found astrology an invaluable tool in understanding and guiding clients. An accurate horoscope is a helpful heavenly roadmap of one\u2019s life patterns, describing our many choices. Astrologers have never recognized that forced divorce, and many enlightened astronomers are now joining the reconciliation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014No\u00ebl Bausher Szundy (CAS\u201959)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Your Dear Athena feature (\u201cAncient Advice for a Good Life,\u201d Fall 2017) is clever and cryptic simultaneously. It makes me, not a former BU student, but mother of a 1994 graduate, have faith in the challenges of the twenty-first century. The author\u2019s gifted style in responding to the questions and qualms posed in the post-Dear Abby era is both comforting and creative. If we do exercise the \u201cpower over how we judge our circumstances,\u201d I recommend you continue to feature the worldly wisdom of author Lara Ehrlich. Her wit and insight add depth and hope in how to explore and, at the right moment, exploit that wandering road, aka the philosophy of happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Pam Price (Par COM\u201992, GRS\u201994)<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

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I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Dear Athena article. Now my query:<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Athena, <\/span><\/p>\n

I lead a simple academic life and have enjoyed some success. There are days when I feel that there is so much more for me to accomplish\u2014and days when I feel I have had enough. I am sometimes torn between seeking fame and inhaling peace. Where should I direct my energy and focus my heart?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Lorraine Potocki (CAS\u201983, MED\u201987) <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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