It seems to me that we might test the waters by saying among other things, what SAL accomplished
during its 40-odd year lifetime: of course the biggies: OAO, WUPPE, and
HSP. But there were lots of others: first manned space astronomy
observations (or at least the attempt with the X-15), a fairly active
rocket program, established the techniques whereby we became one of the
only non-commercial manufacturers of UV interference filters, the
important technique of using synchrotron radiation from the Stoughton
accelerator as a useful UV light source for calibration, the
construction and operation of the first fully automatic ground
observatory, and finally the development and successful flights of a
reliable, inexpensive star tracker. There was other hardware: e.g.,
design, construction and operation of various spectrographs, that became
the standards of their time. And of course, the development of the
(then) sophisticated OAO operation system, and finally the bazillion of
hours spent in organizing and reducing vast amounts of data, both UV and
IR.
What we propose is that the people involved
communicate their memories (good and bad, as
desired), the most interesting aspects of their participation in these
projects, the weird and wonderful people met, the anxieties and
celebrations, etc. In *NO WAY* is this intended as a formal history of
the lab, but rather as personal recollections giving something of the
flavor of the Lab, NASA, and our interactions with the parties involved.
It is not intended as a day-by-day account, but simply the high (and
low) lights of the work. We were essentially the first academic group
involved in stellar UV astronomy, produced most of the research in the
department from the late 50s to the turn of the century, a record
essentially unknown to any of the new folks at Washburn. It seems to us
that it would be a great shame for all this to simply disappear.
The
biggest chore on your part will be to jog your memory and decide what
you want to say. Jim and I
would put this together in some logical form, provide a little
continuity and background, and send it back to you for your OK. We
imagine this could result a short booklet. [Editor: But first, a collection in the form of this blog. Email contributions to SALMemoirs@gmail.com.]
