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Photography by Reed Hutchinson
UCLA Photographic Services |
Eric Becklin holds a model
of the 747 that will carry a telescope. |
Becklinfest honors astronomer
Sky-high praise
BY Wendy Soderburg
UCLA Today
Forty years ago, a young man from Cambridge, Minn., came out West
to get his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. Finding
the competition in his chosen field, high-energy physics, rather
intense, the graduate student decided to try something that better
suited him. He chose astronomy.
Today, that scientist is known the world over as a pioneer in the
field of infrared astronomy, and his accomplishments were lauded
in a two-day tribute held last month in Westwood. Approximately
150 fellow scientists, family members and friends came to the Doubletree
Hotel to honor Eric Becklin, professor of physics and astronomy
and chief scientist of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA), to celebrate his 65th birthday and 40 years in
the field.
“It’s fairly traditional in the academic community to
have one of these fests for a very distinguished, senior professor,”
said colleague Ian McLean, a professor of physics and astronomy
who masterminded the “Becklinfest,” as he called it.
“But to have a conference lasting two days, with people coming
from all over the world, is unusual. This one was particularly large
because of Eric’s standing in the international community.”
The huge turnout proved that Becklin has many admirers, including
UC Berkeley physicist Charles Townes, a Nobel laureate, for his
role in the invention of the laser. “There were people from
Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan ... I was really honored,”
Becklin said.
Astronomy was never one of Becklin’s childhood interests.
At Caltech, Becklin started doing astronomical research with Gerry
Neugebauer, who became his adviser. Becklin loved it, and, after
receiving his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1968 and completing postdoctoral
work there, he began an infrared program at the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. “But I found that I missed
the big telescopes that were out here in California,” he said.
So he returned to Caltech as a research associate, working with
Neuge-
bauer on infrared astronomy.
In 1977, Becklin moved to Hawaii to become the first director
of a new telescope called the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.
He stayed for 13 years until UCLA invited him to come and start
an infrared program.
As an observational infrared astronomer, Becklin specializes in
making infrared measurements of wavelengths of all types; in other
words, he studies heat radiation from space. Some of the phenomena
he studies are space molecules, which radiate well in the infrared,
and failed stars like brown dwarfs.
In 1997, Becklin became chief scientist of SOFIA, currently located
in Waco, Texas. It is the world’s largest airborne observatory,
allowing scientists to make infrared observations from the stratosphere.
A joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center, SOFIA
consists of a 2.5-meter telescope that has been placed inside a
modified Boeing 747-SP aircraft.
After eight years of preparation, SOFIA will make its long-awaited,
first test flight this summer, taking off from Waco. “I’ll
be there, biting my fingernails,” Becklin said.
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