 Walter
Steiger is Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at the Unversity
of Hawai`i at Manoa, where he had served as the department chairman for a
number of years. Since retiring from UHM in 1980, he has served as the
manager of the Science Center of the B.P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu
until 1986, and from 1987 to 1992 as the site manager of the Caltech
Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna Kea. From 1982 to 1984 he served on
the UH Board of Regents. Since 1993 he has been a lecturer in physics
and astronomy at UH-Hilo.
Steiger received a B.S. in physics from MIT in 1948, after having
served three years in the military. It was his military experience that
brought him to Hawai`i and changed his life forever. After receiving an
M.S. in physics at UH in 1950, further graduate work at the University
of Cincinnati led to a Ph.D. in physics and an offer of an assistant
profesorship at UH.
Although teaching duties were very heavy, the need for a research
program at UH was clear. In an attempt to take advantage of Hawai`i's
natural assets, he proposed to look into the potential of an
astronomical observatory on one of Hawai`i's high mountains. This
initiative led to the establishment in 1957 of an interim solar
observatory on Oahu at Makapu`u Point and later, in 1961, a permanent
facility on Haleakala
.
Acknowledgements
I want to take this opportunity to thank my family for support and
patience during the years of the developments described in this essay
and now in the recollection and synthesis of the materials to get them
down in writing!
I also want to thank my many friends and colleagues who encouraged and
supported this project, and especially Gareth Wynn-Williams without
whose encouragement and creative skills with HTML, this would never have
come to pass.
Readers' comments will be appreciated!
| Address: |
Walter Steiger
30 Kiele Place
Hilo
HI 96720 |
| E-mail: |
steiger@hawaii.edu
|
|
