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- American Astronomical Society’s 240th Meeting: Plenary Lecture Building the Future of Radio Science with the Arecibo Observatory by Dr. Héctor Arce. 28 Jul, 2022
- TRENDS 202227 Jul, 2022
- Advancing IDEA in Planetary Science 27 Jul, 2022
- The Arecibo Observatory: An Engine for Science and Scientists in Puerto Rico and Beyond27 Jul, 2022
- Cryogenic Frontend work for the 12m telescope entering phase II21 Jul, 2022
- A Parkes “Murriyang” Search for Pulsars and Fast Transients in the Large Magellanic Cloud 11 Jul, 2022
- A Comparison of Multiphase Magnetic Field Tracers in a High Galactic Latitude Region of the Filamentary Interstellar Medium 11 Jul, 2022
- The First Observation of Additional Ionospheric Layers Over Arecibo Using an Incoherent Scatter Radar11 Jul, 2022
- Decoding the star forming properties of gas-rich galaxy pairs11 Jul, 2022
- Crater Ejecta Across Maxwell Montes, Venus, and Possible Effects on Future Rock Type Measurements 11 Jul, 2022
- On Single-pulse Energies of Some Bright Pulsars Observed at 1.7 GHz11 Jul, 2022
- Probing the Local Interstellar Medium with Scintillometry of the Bright Pulsar B1133 + 16 11 Jul, 2022
- Arecibo Celebrates National Engineers Week 06 Apr, 2022
- The Arecibo Observatory at the Upcoming 240th American Astronomical Society Meeting06 Apr, 2022
- The Arecibo Observatory Survey Salvage Committee Report06 Apr, 2022
In Memoriam: Dr. Gordon Pettengill
Byadmin08 July 2021 General

Photo Credit: Image, from "A Conversation with Gordon H. Pettengill," courtesy of Internet-First University Press, e-Commons at Cornell University Libraries
GENERAL |
Dr. Gordon Pettengill died on May 8, 2021 at his home in Concord, Massachusetts at the age of 95. Dr. Pettengill was one of the very early pioneers in the use of radar to explore solar system bodies while working at the Millstone Hill facility of Lincoln Laboratories. Having assisted Bill Gordon during the construction of the Arecibo telescope via many trips to Arecibo in the early 1960s, Dr. Pettengill joined the staff of the observatory as Associate Director in 1963.
Between then and when he resigned in late 1965, he worked with Rolf Dyce, Tommy Thompson, Andy Sanchez (U. of Puerto Rico) and, after January,1965, myself on observations of the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars. He returned in late 1968 to be the observatory's director, a position he held until December 1970 when he took up a position as Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT. Dr. Pettengill continued his involvement with the radar program at Arecibo, especially observations in the 1970s of the Galilean Satellites and Rings of Saturn working with Steve Ostro, who was a graduate student at MIT, and myself. Gordon was the PI on the radar altimeter instrument on the 1978 Pioneer Venus mission to Venus and he was also the PI on the later Magellan mission to that planet.
-- Dr. Don Campbell
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Keywords: arecibo, observatory, Gordon, Pettengill , Millstone ,Hill, Lincoln Laboratories , Director, Don, Campbell