[FPSPACE] Farewell to Fred Whipple

[Jonathan McDowell]

Saunders wrote:
 > As nice a person as one would ever=20
want to meet.

Hear, hear. I had only known Fred for the last 10 years or so,
when he was already long since a legend and demigod, and he was
always very approachable, friendly and soft-spoken. And very
sharp, right up to a few weeks ago when we were sorting through
old stuff in his office and some old photo would trigger a
reminiscence and a fascinating story. There were a couple of
stories he did tend to go back to, of course: he was clearly
still a bit ticked off that Harlow Shapley had forbidden him
to work on extragalactic astronomy, stranding him in the cometary
cloud for ever after.  
 Normally when someone is 65 or so, if they give a talk it's
to reminisce about their careers. I remember Fred gave a lunch
talk a few years ago - he was then an young lad of 93 or so I think -
to discuss his latest research, I think it was about the connections
between the Oort, Kuiper belt and short period comets. I was just 
so impressed that the way he answered questions at the end of the talk
showed he was still up to date with the latest literature. Not many
people still plugging away at that stage.
 I want to be Fred when I grow up. It'll be very sad not to see the COMETS licence plate in the parking
lot any more.

   - Jonathan McDowell