Bob Garfinkle • Union
City
Victor Weisser • Oakland
Points of Light [The Refractor welcomes items
about EAS members in the news, their published articles, their
conference presentations, or word of their completed astronomical
projects.]
David Seaborg is featured in an article entitled “Explosive
Legacy: Children of the Manhattan Project,” which appeared
in the Contra Costa Times issue of August 6. Seaborg's efforts
in support of environmental issues are emphasized. David is the
founder and president of World Rainforest Fund.
Jim Scala has been named recipient of the Joe Disch
Award given for outstanding contributions to the Mount Diablo
Astronomical Society. Jim was recognized for his help in mentoring
new members, as well as for a variety of other services he has
rendered.
The new Pacific Bell phone directories for the Oakland area (specifically
for the region from Albany south to San Leandro) display the Chabot
Space and Science Center on their front covers. The “White
Pages” shows the domes of Leah and Rachel; the “Smart
Yellow Pages” has the artist conception for the entire facility.
And the timing was nearly perfect, the directories being delivered
just one week prior to CSSC’s Grand Opening.
Numerous media prominently carried
stories about the CSSC's Grand Opening. The most poignant was
a front-page article in the August 20th Oakland Tribune,
which focused on Kingsley
Wightman and the realization
of his long-held dream of having the Observatory relocated and
its doors open again to visiting school children.
San Francisco was this year's venue
for the sixth annual conference of the North American Sundial
Society. Two EAS members actively participated:
Carl Trost delivered presentations about Bay Area sundials
and on his alignment methods employed during the relocation of
the half-ton Oakland Museum dial. Carl also served ably as tour
guide during a bus excursion to nearly a dozen of this region's
best sundials and sun sculpture, a highlight of every NASS confab.
In addition, two talks were given
by Mark Gingrich. The first warned of the expected—albeit
slow—drift of sundial time from standard time if a proposed
banishment of leap seconds, currently being debated in scientific
and technical committees, is adopted. The second talk concerned
a more lighthearted theme. Mark put forth the claim that he and
Carl had set the world record for the most distant reading of
a sundial. This was achieved by peering at the huge, wall-mounted
dial affixed to the University of Washington's Astronomy and Physics
Building through coin-operated binoculars from atop the Seattle
Space Needle—a line-of-sight separation of just under three
miles.