Interview with Harold Zirin

HAROLD ZIRIN (1930-2012) INTERVIEWED BY SHIRLEY K. COHEN February 3, 10 and 17, 1998 Photo taken 1977 ARCHIVES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California Subject area Astronomy, astrophysics Abstract An interview in three sessions, in February 1998, by Shirley K. Cohen with Harold Zirin, Professor of Astrophysics, emeritus, in the Division of Physics, Math and Astronomy at Caltech. Dr. Zirin received his undergraduate and graduate education at Harvard (AB, 1950; AM, 1951; PhD, 1953). He joined the Caltech faculty in 1964, became Chief Astronomer at the Big Bear Solar Observatory in 1970 and Director in 1980. The interview briefly covers Zirin’s youth and early education in New York City and Bridgeport, Connecticut, and notes his youthful interest in astronomy and success in school. Recalls Harvard astronomers Bart Bok, Harlow Shapley, Armin Deutsch, Donald Menzel. PhD work on stellar opacities under Philip Morse at MIT with Harvard’s approval; leads to first job at RAND Corporation and first move to California, 1952-1953. Denial of security clearance based on father’s membership in Communist party sends him back to Harvard for postdoc position. Move to Colorado to High Altitude Observatory and beginning of solar http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Zirin_H observing; reminiscences of S. Chandrasekhar, G. Munch. Recruitment to Caltech by J. Greenstein, R. Leighton, 1964. Discusses history of solar observing at Mt. Wilson Observatory. Site survey for new Caltech solar observatory; role of astronomer Sue Kiefer; selection of Big Bear Lake site in San Bernardino Mountains (1967). Story of construction and operation of Big Bear Solar Observatory, concluding with its transfer to New Jersey Institute of Technology (1997). Relates episode of grievances by Sara Martin and other women against him for discrimination (mid-1990s). Discusses decline of solar astronomy at Caltech and elsewhere in favor of other directions in astronomy and cosmology. The interview concludes with observations concerning Caltech’s presidents and other administrators; Zirin’s activities on committees and involvement with institute governance and finance. Wife Mary quits as Russian teacher at Caltech. His international connections; 6-month period in Russia’s Crimea. Administrative information Access The interview is unrestricted. Copyright Copyright has been assigned to the California Institute of Technology © 2002, 2010. All requests for permission to publish or quote from the transcript must be submitted in writing to the Head of Archives and Special Collections. Preferred citation Zirin, Harold. Interview by Shirley K. Cohen. Pasadena, California, February 3, 10, and 17, 1998. Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. Retrieved [supply date of retrieval] from the World Wide Web: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Zirin_H Contact information Archives, California Institute of Technology Mail Code 015A-74 Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626)395-2704 Fax: (626)395-4073 Email: [email protected] Graphics and content © 2010 California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Zirin_H CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEW WITH HAROLD ZIRIN BY SHIRLEY K. COHEN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA Copyright © 2002, 2010 by the California Institute of Technology http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Zirin_H Zirin–ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERVIEW WITH HAROLD ZIRIN Session 1 1-20 Early years; memories of parents; education; early interest in astronomy; high school and scholarship exams. Harvard: undergraduate experiences—friends; coursework: graduate years— Philip Morse and RAND; teaching; thesis work. California and RAND; “anti-American activities;” return to Harvard; memories of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar; High Altitude Observatory, Colorado. Session 2 21-39 High Altitude Observatory, continued; Caltech—Robert Leighton, Mt. Wilson solar observatory. Return to Boulder (1963). Appointment to Caltech—site surveys for new solar observatory; grant and funding applications; construction of Big Bear Solar Observatory; Lee DuBridge; construction challenges at Big Bear. 40-52 Postdoctoral students of Zirin; NASA and the Skylab telescope; solar astronomy and time-lapse photography; Owens Valley Radio Observatory and solar astronomy; working in Big Bear. Life and teaching at Caltech; Jesse Greenstein and Marshall Cohen. Session 3 53-71 Big Bear Observatory—film processing and CCDs; technicians. Sara Martin; official grievances; trends in astronomy. The loss of Big Bear Observatory—Gerry Neugebauer; the New Jersey Institute of Technology; technical problems with dome. Visit to Russia (1960-61)— the CIA; life in the Crimea. Life and friends at Caltech; Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF). Fredrick Shair and Lance Davis. 71-80 Research overhead and the Office of Naval Research; TIAA and retirement investments; foreign sabbaticals; Caltech’s presidents; the demise of the Big Bear Observatory; current research. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Zirin_H CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Interview with Harold Zirin By Shirley K. Cohen Pasadena, California Session 1 February 3, 1998 Session 2 February 10, 1998 Session 3 February 17, 1998 Begin Tape 1, Side 1 COHEN: Good afternoon, Professor Zirin. ZIRIN: Good afternoon. COHEN: I’m delighted to have you here to talk to us. Let’s start by having you tell us about your childhood and your parents. Where did they come from? Where were you born? ZIRIN: Well, my parents came from Europe—my father from Russia and my mother from Galicia. They met and married in this country. I was born in Boston, and very shortly afterwards they moved to New York. I grew up on Charlotte Street in the Bronx, which is that street where former President Jimmy Carter used to stand amid the bombed out buildings. They now have a little housing project there which everyone shows as an example of what you can do with affordable housing. I started school there. COHEN: What did your father do to feed the family? ZIRIN: He was mostly unemployed, but at that time—I guess I was about four or five—he sold vegetables on the street. I remember going with him on his horse and wagon down to the rail- yards around 125th Street [in Manhattan] to buy potatoes and other vegetables. Then he’d sell http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Zirin_H Zirin-2 them on the street. He was not well suited to business at all. He was a revolutionary—or at least he was an enthusiastic communist. That was where his heart and interests lay. COHEN: Did he have any formal education? ZIRIN: I think he went to some classes at CCNY [City College of New York]. COHEN: But not in Russia? ZIRIN: I think he had gone to some kind of high school there. I don’t think it was a gymnasium though. He was always vague about it, so I never knew exactly what it was. As I said, he did take a few courses at CCNY, but he was more interested in revolution and the communist party. COHEN: So he was a party member? ZIRIN: Oh, yes. Some of my earliest memories are of being taken to party meetings. Little kids were often taken along to meetings. He was pretty serious about it. Then in 1935, when I was five, my elder sister, who was the apple of their eye, died. As a result of this shock, they decided to move to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where my mother’s first cousin had a furniture factory. My father was to work for this cousin, Phil, and he did so for most of my early years, very much against his will. It was a macho thing—that he felt bad about having to work for a relative whom he didn’t respect. But my father always encouraged me in my studies and things like that. He was somewhat educated—I mean, we talked about some academic topics and he was knowledgeable about them, but he was very much affected by the difficulties he had had in this country. I’ve been reading the latest collection of stories by Bernard Malamud, in which the men of that time are all similar to my father. They came over here, and instead of being the boss of the family, they suffered a loss in status. For me it was great. I started in school a year too young—Jewish mothers used to push their kids to do that. At first, I got into all kinds of trouble in school. They would send me home all the time for misbehaving. When we moved up to Connecticut I missed a year. I guess my parents just didn’t know what to do, so they didn’t register me. So I ended up being in the normal grade for my age, in regular school, and I did very well. Then I skipped a grade, so I was once again a year younger than most of the students. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Zirin_H Zirin-3 When I was about eleven or twelve I got real interested in astronomy. I remember one night when I was in eighth grade. I was twelve or thirteen years old. One of the kids in the class had a telescope, so we went to his house and looked through his telescope at the moon. When I saw that, I remember saying, “I want to be an astronomer.” Last year I went to my fiftieth high school reunion and this kid was there. Noel Westerman, I think his name was. And I said to him, “I remember the telescope, because you had it nailed onto the side of the barn.” And he said, “Oh yeah, I didn’t have a very good mount for it.” It was sort of astonishing to see him again. COHEN: Did he ever do anything with astronomy? ZIRIN: No. I don’t remember what he does now. COHEN: But he put you on the track. ZIRIN: That’s right. In high school I was already excited about it.

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