ASAP forum on the Anniversary of the Collapse of the Arecibo Telescope
Channel: Michael Nolan
Date: 2021-12-01

A "Lunch seminar" sponsored by the Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership over Zoom

On the anniversary of the collapse of the William E. Gordon Telescope at the Arecibo Observatory, ASAP discussed its support for the Observatory. The keynote was a discussion of its history by Cornell Professor Emeritus Donald Campbell. After the discussion there was a collection of remembrances of the observatory which will be collected into a separate video and have been removed from this one.

Keynote: Prof. Don Campbell, former NAIC Director and author of a history of the Observatory 
            "Celebrating the William E. Gordon 305m Telescope: Its History and Scientific Achievements"

Abstract:
This first anniversary of the shocking collapse of the William E. Gordon Telescope is an opportunity to reflect on the history of the telescope itself, its amazing scientific achievements and the people who made it all possible.  In May 1958 William (Bill) Gordon gave a seminar in the School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University in which he outlined the specifications of an antenna and radar system that would be capable of measuring the electron distribution with height and other properties of the Earth's ionosphere. He also pointed out that the radar system would be capable of studies of the Sun and nearby planets and that the antenna would also contribute to the then still new field of radio astronomy. Over the next five and a bit years, Gordon and a small group of 
engineers and scientists turned the idea into reality with the completion of the Arecibo telescope in November 1963. The talk will cover the telescope design and construction, some early science successes, the first upgrade of the telescope in the early 1970s, some of the science that this allowed, the second "Gregorian" upgrade in the 1990s and, again, some of the resulting achievements. A large number of talented and dedicated scientists, engineers and, yes, administrators contributed to the construction of the telescope, to the multiple telescope 
and instrument upgrades and to the success of the scientific programs.