GEOFFREY GARDNER DOUGLASS (1942-2005)
Geoffrey Gardner Douglass passed away 15 February 2005, following a long illness.
Geoff was born 11 June 1942 in Rocky River, Ohio, and grew up there with a
passion for science, theatre, and pets. He attended the nearby Case Institute
of Technology (Cleveland, Ohio) before coming to the U.S. Naval Observatory on
April 28, 1967. He worked at the USNO for over 30 years, until his retirement
in January 1999. He was involved in the observing and measurement of parallax
and double star plates on the SAMM and MANN measuring engines, and was
stationed at Blenheim, New Zealand from 1985-1988 working at the Black
Birch site on the Twin Astrograph Telescope. While there he and his wife Doris
travelled extensively throughout New Zealand and Australia, He later worked with
an early iteration of the USNO StarScan measuring machine. However, most of his
work involved observations of visual double stars with the USNO 26" Clark
Refractor, from collaborating with F.J. ("Jerry") Josties on the photographic
program in the late 1960's to development of the USNO's speckle interferometry
program throughout the 1990's.
Geoff collaborated closely with Charles Worley from 1968 until Charles' death in
December 1997, writing much of the double star software and assisting in the
production of the USNO's double star catalogs. This was a period of transition,
when some 200,000 punchcards of the Lick IDS (Index Catalog of Double Stars)
were transferred from Lick Observatory to the USNO, then converted to magnetic
tape. This ultimately resulted in the 1984 WDS catalog (currently maintained
online). It was often joked that the "W" and "D" in the WDS (officially the
"Washington Double Star" catalog) really stood for "Worley" and "Douglass."
The "Curmudgeon" and the "Dour Scot" were a team for nearly 30 years.
Geoff's first observation, of BU 442, was made June 2, 1967 with the USNO double
star (photographic) camera, and his last, STF 342, was made on November 28, 1998
with the USNO speckle camera on the 26" refractor. In between he was an active
collaborator and observer on these two different programs which, during his
tenure at USNO, contributed over 18,000 measured positions to the WDS. While he
discovered no new pairs, this was never his interest. He was much more interested
in following up known systems and characterizing their motions to improve the
catalog. During his long illness, even while at Cameron Glen Nursing Home, he
continued to have an interest in the activities at the USNO and continued to be
sought out for his knowledge on the instrumentation of the speckle camera. Late
in 2004, when he was consulted on the location of a set of visual measures made
in the early 1990s, his comment was that "every measure counted."
During his last year at the observatory he oversaw the publication of over
10,000 speckle observations, and guided the recently hired Brian Mason
(Charles' replacement) in the management of the double star program.
Those of you who knew Geoff also knew he battled illness for many years. He
was a symbol of the worthiness of organ donation, living for some two decades
following a kidney transplant, before succumbing to complications following the
failure of the transplanted kidney.
Geoff is survived by his wife Doris, with whom he shared a love of cats and
classical music. They touched many lives both at the Observatory and at their
church, Graham Road United Methodist, where both he and Doris were active
leaders in many ministries. Geoff was very passionate about his religious
views, going so far as to name his old computer "crux."
Geoff will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues.
Brian Mason and William Hartkopf, U.S. Naval Observatory
and Thomas Corbin, USNO (retired)
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