Scientists and stars

Well done, W. Barksdale Maynard ’88, for “The Stargazers” (cover story, Sept. 22) chronicling Princeton’s brilliant legacy in the field of astrophysics and how it continues. As the administrator of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences and Lyman Spitzer’s assistant for my first five years at the University (starting in late October 1962), I knew Lyman, Martin Schwarzschild, and Mel Gottlieb (Princeton Plasma Physics Lab) well, along with so many others. All were remarkable scientists and warm, caring individuals. My years with them included the construction of Peyton Hall, Aerobee rocket launches, Stratoscope II, and the genesis of the Hubble Space Telescope.

One little-known fact is that Henry Norris Russell 1897 *1900, who followed Charles Young as chairman of the Department of Astronomy, is the only Princetonian to graduate insigni cum laude.