AAS NEWSLETTER A Publication for the members of the American Astronomical Society October 2004 Issue 122 PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Robert Kirshner,
[email protected] After a year of having my rough edges sanded off as President-elect, I am now actually in the Oval Inside Office (it is really an ellipse with Bob Milkey as one focus). The physical proof of this is a large box of stationery with my return address that says (I am not making this up) “Office of the President.” If you receive a letter from me, you can check it out for yourself. But check the signature, since the 4 Washington AAS office has a JPG of my personal calligraphy. For Official Use Only. AAS Elections Final Slate As incoming President, I got to sit at the left hand of NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe during lunch before his presentation at the Denver meeting. He had a little trouble with the vacuum seal on the coffee 6 pot, and there were no dexterous robots at the table, so I used my human ingenuity to hold the top Committee News firmly while rotating the coffee pot clockwise with the handle. Exactly like opening a bottle of champagne: hold the cork and rotate the bottle. But not as much fun. 7 International Travel O’Keefe’s speech was quite passionate and made it very clear that he does not want to send astronauts Grant Application to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. The preliminary report from the NRC Committee headed by Louis Lanzerotti, and including astronomers Sandy Faber, Riccardo Giacconni, and Joe Taylor gives another perspective, and is well worth reading (http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11051.html).