Keith Pierce
American astronomer (1918-2005)
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Austin Keith Pierce (October 2, 1918 – March 11, 2005) was an American solar astronomer. Pierce played a key role in the development of the McMath–Pierce solar telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
October 2, 1918
Keith Pierce | |
|---|---|
Pierce in 1992 | |
| Born | Austin Keith Pierce October 2, 1918 Tacoma, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | March 11, 2005 (aged 86) Tucson, Arizona, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Solar astronomy |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Photographic and Photo-electric Profile of the Fraunhofer Line Mg B Lambda 5184 (1948) |
| Doctoral advisor | C. Donald Shane |
Biography
Austin Keith Pierce was born October 2, 1918, in Tacoma, Washington. His father, Tracy Pierce, was a mathematician at the University of Nebraska and an amateur astronomer.[1][2]
From 1936 to 1938, he studied at the University of Nebraska, before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley where in 1940 he obtained a BSc in astronomy.[1][2] In 1941 he married Mildred Buell, with whom he went on to have three children.[1]
During the Second World War, Pierce worked on uranium isotope separation as part of the Manhattan Project, first at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and then at Oak Ridge in Tennessee.[1][2]
In 1945 he returned to Berkeley, where he completed his PhD thesis on the intensity of the solar magnesium b lines in 1948 under C. Donald Shane.[1][2] He then worked at the University of Michigan for astronomer Robert McMath. McMath obtained federal funding for a large solar telescope and chose Pierce to lead the project.[3] Pierce gained observing experience at the Mount Wilson and McMath–Hulbert solar observatories and toured European solar observatories to inform the design of the new telescope.[3]
Kitt Peak National Observatory was chosen for the site, so in 1958 Pierce and his family relocated to Tucson, Arizona.[3] Upon its completion in 1962 the McMath Solar Telescope was the largest solar telescope in the world.[4] Pierce was appointed Associate Director of Kitt Peak in charge of the Solar Division, a position he held for its first 16 years.[1][3]
In 1965, Pierce served a major leadership role in a multi-institutional solar eclipse expedition in support of the International Years of the Quiet Sun (IQSY) program, which was organized to observe the sun's corona during a period of minimum solar activity.[5][6] As a part of a broader expedition, researchers from Kitt Peak National Observatory and the High Altitude Observatory conducted airborne and ground-based studies over the Pacific Ocean during the solar eclipse of 30 May 1965.[5] With support from the National Science Foundation, Pierce led the ground-based expedition and arranged for the civilian yacht Goodwill to provide sea transport services on rent-free loan from its owner, Ralph E. Larrabee.[5][7] On the expedition, his team sought improved measurements of the pressure, density, and temperature of the solar corona.[5]
In 1979 he married medical anthropologist Trudy Griffin.[1] In celebration of its 30th anniversary in 1992, the McMath telescope was rededicated as the McMath–Pierce Solar Telescope.[4][8]
Pierce died of cancer on March 11, 2005, in Tucson, Arizona.[8][9][10]