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Davis, Robert J. (Robert James), 1929-
Oral history interview with Robert J. Davis and Ruth Davis, 2005 October 15.
The interview includes an overview of Robert Davis's childhood and early interest in astronomy; his experiences as an undergraduate, a Naval Officer, and a graduate student in the 1940s and early 1950s; his interest in observational astronomy; his work in ultraviolet stellar magnitudes, and his appointment as head of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Project Celescope in the late 1950s. He outlines the Celescope program, the design of the telescope, the decision to use image tubes and problems encountered with funding, and the successes, failures and ultimate relevance of the program. Ruth Davis comments on the changes of the social climate at the observatory as the staff increased. He concludes the interview by commenting on former colleagues, changes in astronomy and the legacy of Project Celescope. Among those prominently mentioned are: Vaughan Harmon, Harlow Shapley, and Fred Whipple.
Robert J. Davis, astrophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1956.
Davis, Robert J. (Robert James), 1929-
Davis, Ruth C.
Harmon, Vaughan.
Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972.
Whipple, Fred L. (Fred Lawrence), 1906-2004
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) Project Celescope.
Astronomy -- Observations
Astrophysics
Stars -- Magnitudes.
Telescopes -- Design and construction.
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Davis, Ruth C., interviewee.
DeVorkin, David H., 1944-, interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
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