Nobel Prize winner praises new observatory in NK
More than likely, Dr. John Mather was tickled to receive a share of the 2006 Nobel Prize for physics. For certain, he was tickled to take part in the dedication ceremony for the Brinton Observatory on the grounds of Makemie Woods Camp and Conference Center. He said so.
Mather delivered the keynote address at last Friday’s event at the Presbyterian church-run camp near Barhamsville in eastern New Kent County. A steady rain forced the ceremony indoors, away from the observatory and its sensitive telescope mechanism that would fare poorly if allowed to become wet. But the weather failed to dampen enthusiasm for the recently completed observatory and its educational possibilities.
“I’m tickled to see what you’re doing here,” Mather told the crowd of about 50, adding his lifelong dream would be fulfilled if he could “take all people out to see the sky and how we came to be here.”
Exposing children who attend the camp to astronomy is a step in that direction, he said. At least, the observatory can serve to heighten curiosity by helping to show where humans are and what may happen next, he added.
“Scientists, engineers, and curious people are responsible for everything we have,” he said. “Now kids have a chance to see that, and I’m tickled that you’re helping kids to see that. You’ve created a huge amount of excitement for the kids who are going to come through here.”
In his remarks, Mather traced the study of astronomy from its roots with the ancient Egyptians through the development of early telescopes and the realization that the Earth was not the center of the universe. Astronomy continues to be of important interest to people, he said, adding that new discoveries serve to further heighten man’s curiosity.
“We now know that stars are being formed all the time. Fifty years ago, astronomers did not know that,” he said.
“We are all made of recycled stellar material,” he concluded. “How did we get here? It’s an amazing story, and it might even be true.”
Mather shared the 2006 Nobel Prize with a California astrophysicist for work on the Big Bang theory and early evolution of the universe. He now works in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland where his latest project, ongoing since 1995, is developing the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble now in orbit.
The Webb telescope, named for NASA’s second administrator who unveiled plans for the first manned moon mission to President John F. Kennedy, is scheduled for launch in 2013. Mather said Webb is larger and “much more powerful” than Hubble.
As for the Brinton Observatory telescope, the device is somewhat smaller — a 12-inch Meade compound scope to be exact. The Brinton name belongs to the late NASA astronomer Henry Brinton who spent 23 years at Goddard and 17 at NASA’s Langley Research Center.
Brinton’s family — wife Mary Loraine and sons Henry G. and George E. Brinton — presented the $17,000 telescope and mount as a gift to Makemie Woods.
Henry G. Brinton, a Presbyterian minister, told the crowd the gift was made “to inspire curiosity, raise questions, and begin the quest for answers.”
The telescope is the last in a group of four to be installed in the late Brinton’s honor. Others are located in Northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Plans call for linking all four via the Internet.