Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, October 6, 2008 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Bob Zimmerman
"The Hubble Space Telescope: An Idea That Would Not Die"
ABSTRACT -- The story behind the Hubble Space Telescope and its importance to science and the future is a story many near deaths and amazing saves. Repeatedly, politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, and even astronomers, made passionate efforts to stop its construction or terminate its use. Repeatedly, these efforts failed, as even those who originally opposed the telescope found that they could not resist its allure. The compelling nature of the unknown that the telescope promised to unveil won out each time, beating back every form of opposition or skepticism while simultaneoulsy compelling the telescope's supporters to make sacrifices surprising even to themselves.
In describing the heroic and unknown story of the men and women who conceived, designed, built, and saved Hubble, Mr. Zimmerman will also illustrate how the telescope's design reshaped our concept of how space exploration should be carried out, proving the necessity of having humans and robots work together in space in order for humanity to successfully explore and colonize the solar system. He will also illustrate how the amazing images produced by the Hubble Space Telescope have transformed our understanding of the universe and even reshaped how astronomy is practiced.
SPEAKER -- Robert Zimmerman is an award-winning science journalist and historian who has written four books and more than a hundred articles on science, engineering, and the history of space exploration and technology. His newest book, The Universe In A Mirror: The Saga Of The Hubble Space Telescope And The Visionaries Who Built It (Princeton University Press), tells the story of the people who conceived, built, and saved the Hubble Space Telescope. His previous book, Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, And The Quest For Interplanetary Travel (Joseph Henry Press), was awarded the American Astronautical Society's Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award in 2003 as the best space history for the general public. His other books include Genesis, The Story Of Apollo 8 (Four Walls Eight Windows), which describes the family and political tale behind the first manned mission to another world, and The Chronological Encyclopedia Of Discoveries In Space (Oryx Press), a detailed reference book describing what was accomplished on every single space mission, from October 1957 with Sputnik through December 1999.
His magazine and newspaper articles have appeared in Astronomy, Air & Space, Natural History, The Wall Street Journal, Usa Today, Wired, Invention & Technology and a host of other publications. In 2000 he was co-winner of the David N. Schramm Award, given by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society for Science Journalism, for his essay in The Sciences, "There She Blows," on the 35-year-old astronomical mystery of gamma ray bursts.
In addition to his writing, Mr. Zimmerman is also a cave explorer and cartographer, and has participated in numerous projects exploring and mapping previously unknown caves across the eastern United States. It is this activity that has allowed him to actually "go where no one has gone before," thus providing him a better understanding of the perspective of engineers and scientists as they struggle to push the limits of human knowledge.