Ken Willcox Interview 1990

Local Amateur Presides Over Astronomers

by John Grismore

2/1990

Few people realize that the President of the largest (amateur or professional?) astronomical organization in the world lives in Bartlesville. Ken Willcox, a research chemist for Phillips Petroleum Company since 1974, is currently President of the Astronomical League, a national amateur astronomy organization consisting of nearly 180 member societies and 12,000 members. Ken served as Vice President of the Astronomical League from August 1986 until June 1988, when he was elected President. He has previously been President of the Bartlesville Astronomical Society, which became a member society of the Astronomical League in 1958.

Ken has been involved in a number of important League activities. In particular, shortly after assuming the duties of Vice President, he became the Astronomical League's representative to the AAWG, the Amateur Astronomer's Working Group. This committee consisted of one representative from each of the seven major amateur astronomical organizations in the United States, and had the task of soliciting and reviewing research proposals from amateur astronomers competing for observing time on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The Space Shuttle is scheduled to place the Space Telescope into Earth orbit this March or April.

Over nearly three years, the AAWG narrowed the list of hundreds of proposals to twelve, from which the Space Telescope Science Institute selected five. These five amateurs will receive up to one percent of the observing time on the Space Telescope and will conduct their research just as professional astronomers do. Ken feels a great sense of satisfaction in helping make such a sophisticated astronomical observatory available to amateurs. "It's an incredible opportunity for amateur astronomers," he said. "And there may be additional opportunities for other amateurs later on."

Ken's interest in astronomy began in the sixth grade, when his aunt gave him a telescope for Christmas. "I had never seen a telescope before -- didn't know what it was," he recalls. "I thought I had gotten gypped; my aunt Helen had bought me something I had no idea how to use."

But with a little help from his older brother, Ken set the telescope outside and pointed it at the brightest thing in the sky, the Moon. "You can imagine the expression most people have the first time they see craters on the moon. I was very, very impressed!" he said.

Focusing on the second brightest object in the sky, Ken was delighted to 'discover' a new planet. "This planet had some bands on it, and to my amazement it had four moons. I could tell they were moons because they were lined up in a straight line," Ken remembers. "It wasn't until later that I found out it was Jupiter."

Ken's interest in astronomy intensified quickly. In 1958 Russia stunned the free world by launching Sputnik into orbit. The Cold War was in full swing and the U.S. was very concerned about what the "Red Enemy" was doing. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory set up the Moonwatch program to organize observers all around the country to observe and track Sputnik. Local amateur astronomers quickly became active in this effort, setting up radios and telescopes on the property where Skaggs Alpha Beta now stands. Based on predictions from the Smithsonian, members at the 7 or 8 telescopes watched predetermined parts of the sky and made accurate observations of the times and positions of Sputnik passes. The current Bartlesville Astronomical Society evolved from a group of Moonwatch participants.

In junior high school, Ken and three friends built a reflecting telescope with an eight inch diameter mirror. Each contributed $40 to the cost of the materials. Ken saved his allowance and, until his parents found out and offered to help, he skipped lunch so that he could accumulate his lunch money for the project. The resulting telescope was large and cumbersome, but it worked. Besides astronomical observations and astrophotography, Ken frequently used it for spotting P36's and B47's that flew over, as well as occasional weather balloons. It also worked well as a terrestrial spotting scope.

"From time to time I'd carry it up to the corner at the Safeway store on Frank Phillips and Choctow. I'd set it up and look at the downtown buildings. I could see individual bricks. People driving by would almost have wrecks," Ken reminisced. "They'd see a kid aiming this contraption with a big silver tube on a huge wooden tripod at the buildings, and they didn't know what he was doing."

Throughout high school, astronomy continued as one of Ken's main interests. As a senior he assembled a small spectroscope and entered a project titled 'Chemistry of the Stars' in the local science fair. "My chemistry teacher made a deal with his students. If you entered the science fair, you'd get a letter grade higher," Ken remembered. "That sounded like a pretty good deal to me. I just entered for the letter grade. I set up my display on Saturday morning and didn't come back until eight o'clock that night to take it down. That's when I discovered I'd won second place."

That same project earned Ken an honorable mention at the state science fair in Oklahoma City and convinced him that he wanted to study chemistry in college. After receiving Bachelor's degrees in chemistry and mathematics, Ken returned to Bartlesville to work for the Bureau of Mines for five years before attending graduate school at North Dakota State University. In 1974, he received his Master's degree in chemistry and returned to Bartlesville to work at Phillips R&D.

At that time, the Bartlesville Astronomical Society had dwindled to a small, relatively inactive group. He and several others rejuvenated the local astronomy club, holding public observing sessions at Jo Allyn Lowe Park and getting the club more involved with the public schools. This ultimately led Ken into an active role in the Green Country Science Teachers Workshop, sponsored annually by Phillips Petroleum Company. In 1984, a year before Halley's comet returned, he arranged for Dr. Mark Littman, then Director of Hansen Planetarium, to participate in the workshop, talk to a number of school classes, and give a public presentation about Halley's in the Civic Center.

That same year Ken arranged for Dr. Ronald Shorn, Technical Editor of Sky and Telescope magazine, to participate in the science teacher's workshop. Dr. Shorn brought with him an astronomy program for home computers. Since he didn't have time to evaluate it himself, he suggested that Ken keep the program, evaluate it and write a review for the magazine. Ken was so impressed with the program that he contacted then president of the Astronomical League, George Ellis, and encouraged him to include the program for sale in the League's book service. Unable to spare the time, Ellis delegated the responsibility to Ken. This was the start of Ken's active involvement in the Astronomical League and ultimately led to his election as Vice President, and later President.

One of Ken's other major tasks has been organizing a July 1991 excursion to Hawaii to see a total eclipse of the sun. Because the Astronomical League works on a shoestring budget, Ken has put down his own money to reserve hotel rooms on the island. The eclipse has attracted such strong interest that there are no available hotel rooms or rental cars in Hawaii during that time.

In January Ken made a five day trip to Hawaii to make arrangements for the event. One result is that excursion participants will have the opportunity to tour the Mauna Kea Observatory at the top of a 14,000 foot volcano. The eclipse trip is open to the general public as well as League members, and several Bartlesville residents have already made reservations. Anyone interested in participating should contact Ken.

A number of other important accomplishments have occurred during Ken's term. The Astronomical League library program has been expanded to include video tapes. Member societies will soon be able to borrow video tapes covering a wide range of astronomical and space science topics for meetings and special events. Another exciting development is the recent creation of the Astronomical League Computer Bulletin Board, which allows League members from around the country to access information about astronomical news and events. An example of the timely nature of this service is up-to-date information available on the bulletin board about newly discovered Comet Austin. In late April and early May, Comet Austin will appear above the northeastern horizon before dawn, and may be the most spectacular comet in fifteen years. In the short time the bulletin board has been on-line it has had people from 35 states logged on for a total of well over 2,000 hours.

Ken is also trying to change some of the Astronomical League's by-laws to eliminate many of the organization's financial handicaps. Lack of funding is a constraint for amateur astronomy organizations all the way from the Astronomical League at the national level, down to the Bartlesville Astronomical Society at the local level.

"We have no money to communicate with our members or with the public. If you're going to do something, develop new ideas and new programs for members and the public, it costs money. But it's a catch 22. You've got to do something before you can attract contributions," Ken pointed out.

Despite the demands placed on him by Astronomical League activities, Ken still finds time for involvement in a variety of other activities. In 1986 he and his wife traveled to Chile to view and photograph Halley's comet. Currently he is co-authoring a book with Dr. Mark Littman about the coming total solar eclipse in 1991. Next fall Ken will teach physics and astronomy at Bartlesville Wesleyan College. He also devotes a lot of time to the Bartlesville Astronomical Society.

"I'd like to put more time into local astronomy," he stated. "There are a lot of neat things we could do for the teachers and students here in Bartlesville. There are all kinds of opportunities for us. The local school system has a portable planetarium. There is a 12 1/2" reflecting telescope at College High that could be made more usable. Mid-High has an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope that's not being utilized because the teachers need some training on how to use it.

Knowledge and education are the main things that local astronomy can do. I'm a chemist, a scientist, today because my aunt bought me a telescope when I was in the sixth grade. And what it lead to was that I discovered I was curious.

It's very rewarding to see the responses you get from kids when you share your excitement for astronomy and love for discovery with them. I often wonder how many of them might be just like I was when I was in the sixth grade."