I was fortunate enough to be selected as a student in the very first Astro-Science Workshop (1963-64). As such, I have some personal anecdotes to share.
In September, 1963, I was on the back porch with my mother, paging through the Chicago Tribune. Not usual for me – I still don’t know why I did it that day. But a small article caught my eye. It mentioned astronomy. A bearded gentleman by the name of Dr. J. Allen Hynek was shown. The article mentioned that he was Chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Northwestern University and was starting a special Saturday morning program for gifted high school students called the Astro-Science Workshop. The students would be taught by world-class experts in their fields, giving university-level lectures in their fields of expertise. Observing time at Northwestern and Yerkes Observatories would also be offered. School councillors would be alerting potential students, but students were also invited to apply directly. There would be a rigorous vetting process, since fewer than 50 students would be selected to participate.I nearly fell off my chair. Without blinking an eye, I started to write my letter of interest to Dr. Hynek. It was posted the next day.
I knew my school councillor would never let me (or anyone else) know about this opportunity. This was Steinmetz High School, after all. I later learned that most students from elite suburban schools like New Trier or Chicago schools like University of Chicago Laboratory School were invited by their councillors. I thank God I read the paper that day.
The vetting process was multi-layered. They needed school transcripts. No problem. Then, I was asked to write a 500-word essay on some aspect of astronomy. Again, no problem. Finally, there was the interview with Dr. Hynek himself. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous and that went quite well. I didn’t know it at the time, but Dr. Hynek was quite famous as both an astronomer and as a UFO expert. For 20 years, he was the scientific consultant to Project Blue Book and coined the expressions “Close Encounters of the First, Second, and Third Kind.” A few years later, he was the scientific advisor (and appeared in) the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Later that month, a telegram was delivered to my parents’ house. Who would send us a telegram? Who died? No, it said that Dr. Hynek was pleased to inform me that I had been selected to participate in the very first Astro-Science Workshop! I was in!!
The whole Astro-Science Workshop experience was nothing short of amazing. Dr. James Van Allen talked to our Saturday morning class about the Van Allen radiation belts. The next Saturday, Dr. William Hiltner talked to us about photoelectric photometry. And on and on. After each lecture, a laboratory was prepared by a grad student to give us hands-on experience. We’d compute orbits. We’d compute radial velocities from stellar spectra. And so forth. I still have those lab sheets and lecture notes. For publicity, we had individual pictures taken. Mine was with Dr. Karl Henize, a Northwestern astronomer who became an astronaut (Apollo and Challenger) but died on Mount Everest. That photo is now on my desk.
And, of course, we had observing sessions. To get to Northwestern’s Dearborn Observatory from my house required a long bus ride and an elevated train (subway) ride. In the evening, returning at 2 or 3 in the morning. In Chicago. Again, quite an experience.
Dr. Hynek on ASW:
Above all, Dr. Hynek was an educator who wanted to encourage young people to study the sciences and to even consider astronomy as a career. He once told us "in a random walk, you're 100 times more likely to encounter a bank president than an astronomer." His goal, he told us, was to have each ASW class produce one or two new astronomers.
Dr. Hynek on UFOs:
Dr. Hynek didn't talk very much about his UFO research, but he did emphasize to have an open mind. He told us that people sometimes ask him why he would risk his reputation on such a controversial subject. He responded that he had already made his reputation and he could afford risking it, more so than younger scientists.
A couple of other things stick in my mind about what Dr. Hynek told us. He was the first to agree with many skeptics that 95% of all UFO sightings were easily explainable - e.g., Venus, unusual cloud formations, etc. But the remaining 5% intrigued him. In these, current known physical laws could not explain them. But he was always cautious not to jump to conclusions (that was the scientist in him!). He wasn't convinced the phenomena was due to "alien civilizations", but they were due to something beyond our current understanding of physics. He speculated that other dimensions could be involved, but that's the reason he wanted to investigate them more. His goal was to scientifically try and fully explain what was happening (and modify physics if need be).
One thing that stood out to him was the correlation he found regarding "sightings". There was great similarity in descriptions throughout the world, even among natives who had no access to the "outside" world. To him, that correlation was strong evidence that something "real" was occurring.
Finally, he seemed to have palpable disdain for Dr. Edward Condon, who summarily closed Project Blue Book, citing "it was unlikely to yield major scientific discoveries."
Dr. Hynek on Manned Lunar Exploration:
1963-64 was a time shortly after President Kennedy had announced a manned lunar program "before the decade was out". Dr. Hynek talked about the manned program and the potential benefit of placing an astronomical observatory on the moon, outside of the turbulent earth's atmosphere. But he saw that as one of the few incentives. He felt that manned exploration would yield few, if any, new scientific discoveries. After all, radar and spectroscopic terrestrial observations of the moon had already characterized its surface composition quite well. We knew the chemical makeup of various regions of the moon, the moon dust particle size, and even the depth of the dust itself on top of the harder surface. He felt that robotic exploration would produce more fruitful and cost-effective results.
Miss Letitia Lestina:
Miss Letitia Lestina was the ASW Administrative Assistant and Dr. Hynek's right-hand person. She handled all the administrative aspects of the program and organized the annual Christmas Lectures (below). She taught commercial geography at Lake View High School until she retired in 1973 and was a founding member and executive director of the Illinois Science Lecture Association, a program for junior high and high school students. Her enthusiasm for ASW and for young people in general was noticeable and she was a beloved member of the entire ASW family.
Christmas Lectures:
Dr. Hynek organized an annual ASW Christmas Lecture, modelled after those of the Royal Institution in Great Britain. Initiated by Michael Faraday when organized education for children was scarce, the Christmas Lectures established an exciting new way of presenting science to young people. World-famous scientists have given the UK Lectures, including Nobel Prize winners William and Lawrence Bragg, Sir David Attenborough, Carl Sagan and Dame Nancy Rothwell. The ASW Christmas Lectures, hosted by Miss Letitia Lestina and located at Thorne Hall, Northwestern University, featured prominent scientists and continued for several years. Eventually, I could no longer attend (since I had moved out of town) and I do not know how for many years they continued.
Alumni Association:
I was a member of the Executive Committee of the ASW Alumni Association, an association of past ASW participants which continued to at least 1972. They published a bi-annual Newsletter (a few samples below) to keep participants informed of some of the accomplishments and publications of former students.
