Fred Whipple Dies

[filkertom]

Fred Whipple, the pioneering astronomer who correctly theorized that comets were made of ice and rock rather than sand, has passed away at the age of 97. Here's the story at Yahoo news.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Didn't he also later go on to discover that Charmin was squeezably soft?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I knew someone was gonna do that....

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Hey, I didn't make the obvious joke about the similarity between Charmin and the Enterprise! Give me a LITTLE credit!

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've heard that one.

I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the "Captains Log".

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

No, thankfully.

You Do the Math

[(Anonymous)]

It involves a race of Star Trek villains and the name of one of Sol's planets. Nuff said?

[wcg.livejournal.com]

He took advantage of the name sometimes. A roll of Charmin thrown across a room makes a reasonable model of a comet for demonstration (and humor) purposes.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Well, he had a good run. But damn, he'll be missed.

Along with Clyde Tombaugh, Fred was a great example of the Iowa farmboy who makes it big in astronomy. He did a heck of a lot in his lifetime.

[(Anonymous)]

During World War II, Whipple invented a device used by Allied planes over Germany to confuse enemy radar. The device cut aluminum foil into thousands of fragments, giving a false impression of a much larger number of planes attacking.


Hence, the origin of the phrase, "throwing tinfoil into the radar."

Now This Is Dedication!

[(Anonymous)]

Whipple was director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge from 1955 to 1973, when it merged with the Harvard Observatory and was renamed the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.


Whipple retired from Harvard in 1977, although he continued to bicycle to the center six days a week until he was 90. The license plate on his car was "COMETS."

A most amazing man.