Caltech News, 1-7L, Tributed $1.65 Million to the Institute, Reactions

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Caltech News, 1-7L, Tributed $1.65 Million to the Institute, Reactions CALTECH February 1985 NEWS Mettler elected Keck grant to fund world's largest telescope chairman of Caltech Board of Trustees Bigger telescopes have long been the dream of astronomers but until Ruben E Mettler, chairman and recently, there was no way to surpass chief executive officer of TRW Inc., the Palomar scope because of techno­ has been elected chairman of the logical limitations. Scientists concen­ Board of Trustees of Caltech. He trated on enhancing the images they succeeds retiring chairman R. Stan­ received, rather than on increasing ton Avery, the founder-chairman of the size of the instruments. Avery International, who headed the Construction of an instrument of Cal tech board since 1974. Mettler this size has only recently been made assumed office on January 1. possible by the development of In announcing Mettler's election, technology by University of Cali­ President Marvin L. Goldberger fornia scientists at the Lawrence commented, "Since he received his Berkeley Laboratory. doctorate from Caltech 35 years ago, The W. M. Keck Observatory Rube Mettler has compiled an im­ would be located on a ridge on pressive record as an engineer and Mauna Kea, an extinct volcano on business leader, coupled with a distin­ the island of Hawaii. Its telescope guished record of public service. We would be the first major instrument are delighted to welcome him as to use new technology involving a chairman of our Board of Trustees. segmented mirror. The mirror will "We also want to express our consist of 36 separate, adjoining deepest thanks to Stan Avery for a hexagonal mirrors, each 1.8 meters decade of wise leadership. Under his (six feet) across. Segmented-mirror guidance, Cal tech has flourished, technology uses several recent scien­ both as an educational institution tific breakthroughs, including "stress and as a world center for scientific polishing" of mirror segments and a research. He will continue on the computer-controlled mirror-position­ board as Chairman Emeritus and as ing system that will adjust the mir­ Life Trustee." rors 300 times per second by as little A native of Shafter, California, as one one-thousandth the width of a Mettler spent his freshman year at human hair. Stanford University. Upon entering The observatory site, atop Mauna the Navy in 1942, he was assigned to Kea, is considered the best in the Cal tech where he received a BS in world. Its stable, dust-free atmos­ electrical engineering in 1944. He phere reduces image blurring, and its earned an MS at Caltech in 1947, and cloud-free sky means a maximum a PhD in 1949, in electrical and Howard B. Keck (chairman and president of the W M. Keck Foundation) and number of useful observing nights. aeronautical engineering. President Marvin L. Goldberger examine a model of the Keck Ten-Meter Telescope. Its high altitude-13,600 feete-makes Mettler then spent five years with it an excellent site for both visible­ Hughes Aircraft Company, and a The W. M. Keck Foundation of scheduled to begin in 1992. light and infrared observations. year as a consultant to the Depart­ Los Angeles has proposed to grant Four times more powerful than the In making the announcement, ment of Defense. In 1955 he joined $70 million to Caltech for construc­ 5-meter (200-inch) telescope on Palo­ Howard B. Keck, president of the W. the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation tion of the world's largest optical mar Mountain, the instrument will M. Keck Foundation, said, 'This where he was involved in several of telecope. have a mirror with a diameter of 10 proposed grant is historic in both its the nation's early ballistic missile and The proposed grant would be the meters (about 400 inches), making it size and purpose. The Keck Ten-Me­ space projects. largest private gift ever given for a the largest optical telescope in the ter Telescope will enable us to see When Ramo-Wooldridge merged scientific project and will be made world. It will be almost twice the size much farther than we can see today, with Thompson Products in 1958 to upon satisfaction of certain contrac­ of a 236-inch telescope in the Soviet and will help us to discover how the tual conditions. Construction of the Union, currently the world's largest. universe began." Continued on page 4 Keck Telescope and dome would While there are larger radio tele- . begin in 1986 and use of the instru­ scopes that measure radio energy, this Continued on page 2 ment for scientific observation is will be by far the biggest optical instrument, and will produce photo­ graphs of much greater brilliance than any other telescope anywhere in the world. 2 Keck grant to fund Why we need bigger telescopes world's largest optical telescope The current generation of large Because astronomers study light discoveries from satellites and from telescopes-most notably the 200- from distant celestial objects that left radio telescopes have greatly in­ Continued from page 1 inch Hale Telescope at Palomar- has those objects billions of years ago, a creased the need for more powerful revealed a stunning array of celestial telescope is, in essence, a time ma­ telescopes. In nearly all cases, follow­ President Marvin L. Goldberger phenomena. Astronomers have used chine. With the new Keck Telescope, up optical or infrared measurements said, "On behalf of the entire scien­ the instruments to: astronomers will be able to study are required to find ou t what kind of tific community, we applaud the -measure the size and age of the galaxies billions of years farther back object has been seen and to determine vision of the W. M. Keck Foundation universe by using distant stars and in time than ever before. its distance and basic properties. directors in offering to make this galaxies as markers. While the Keck Ten-Meter Tele­ Orbiting instruments, most no­ historic grant. Scientists will use the -capture the spectrum of light scope will greatly enhance visible tably the Hubble Space Telescope to Keck Telescope to provide answers to from hundreds of thousands of stars the most challenging and basic ques­ to learn how stars are born, live, and tions of the universe. It will enable die. astronomers to look back in time to -discover quasars, objects at the within a few billion years of the edge of the observable universe that origin of the universe-billions of burn with the brilliance of a trillion years earlier than is possible with suns. existing optical instruments." - map the structure of distant Goldberger said that among the galaxies, collections of billions of areas to be explored are how the stars sculpted into spirals and other universe originated, whether or not it shapes by the force of gravity. is continually expanding, why and Each question that these discov­ how galaxies and stars formed and eries have answered has raised many evolved, and how the four basic more. Light from distant stars, the forces of nature controlled the early intricate structures of quasars and history of the universe. galaxies, the dark clouds of gas and He announced that negotiations dust in the Milky Way, and the tur­ are under way between Cal tech and bulence at its center, hold many more the University of California for joint mysteries to be explored. operation of the Keck Observatory. Astronomers are essentially Under the proposed agreement, gatherers and interpreters of light ~ Cal tech would provide funds for from the heavens.-The more photons construction of the observatory; of light they can collect from a celes­ while the University of California tial object, the better they can under­ will contribute funds for continuing stand it. They have been' able to The Keck Foundation's $70'million gift to the Institute was announced at a press conference on operation of the facility. make such remarkable progress over the Caltech campus. Participants: President Marvin L. Goldberger; Howard B. Keck: Goldberger also noted that use of chariman and president of the W M. Keck Foundation; Julian O. von Kalt~owskt, d~rect~r, the decades, despite limitations in the site in Hawaii is being made the W M. Keck Foundation; and David P. Gardner, president, the UnIVersIty of Cahforma. telescope size, because of revolu­ possible through the cooperation of Behind Gardner is a drawing of the W M. Keck Observatory sIte on Mauna Kea . tionary advances in the technology the University of Hawaii, which astronomy, its effects on infrared of light detection. be launched in 1986, can also obtain owns the property. University of astronomy will be even more pro­ The first photographic plates used sharper images, unspoiled by the Hawaii scientists will also have access found. With infrared detectors at­ to record light could capture only earth's turbulent atmosphere or by to the telescope. tached, the telescope will be able to one photon in 100 that fell on the skyglow. The Keck Telescope, be­ probe with unprecedented clarity the The Keck grant will cover almost telescope mirror. Later, photoelectric cause of its light-gathering capability, dark interiors of nearby interstellar the entire cost of construction of the detectors were used to raise light will be able to obtain the most pre­ clouds, where stars are being born. $85 million project. collection efficiencies to 30 photons cise spectra of distant objects discov­ While visible light from these The W. M. Keck Foundation, one per 100. Today, advanced solid-state ered by the Space Telescope, thereby young stars is absorbed by the of the nation's largest charitable detectors called charge-coupled providing the best clues to their clouds, infrared light penetrates organizations in terms of total grants, devices, or CCD s, can detect 80 nature.
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