It was the second of July, 1957 - the second night of the International Geophysical Year. I held a Research Assistantship at Yerkes Observatory and that night is permanently engraved in my memory. Even before sunset, there was an unusual glow in the sky. By the time that it should have been dark, an aurora borealis of spectacular size and brightness had engulfed us. Not even Venus was visible through the pulsing sheets of light covering the Wisconsin sky. It shimmered and shone. Virtually the entire staff of the observatory had come to the roof and we spread out across it, staring and scanning the shifting colors. We could see one another clearly and believed we could have read a newspaper in the Northern Lights.
One of our number turned to another: "How are the cameras doing on this display?"
"The cameras - oh my God - I didn't turn them on!"
Astronomers are the most human physical scientists I know. No other group would let the sheer poetry and wonder of the heavens interfere with collecting data. Thank you, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, for reminding me on 3 May 2000 of that night nearly 43 years ago and a wonderful summer with grand people. Helmut Abt, Suberamanyan Chandrasekhar, Gerard Peter Kuiper, Kai Strand, Bengt Stromgren and a few dozen others have returned to the present for me thanks to that cartoon - and I feel the need to share it with you all.
Mike
Mail me at operas@mrichter.com
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