James B. Breckinridge - With Stars in Their Eyes: The Extraordinary Lives and Enduring Genius of Aden and Marjorie Meinel

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Oxford University Press 2022

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Breckinridge, Jim B. (Jim Bernard), 1939 author. | Pridgeon, Alec M., author.

Title: With stars in their eyes : the extraordinary lives and enduring

genius of Aden and Marjorie Meinel / James B. Breckinridge and Alec M. Pridgeon.

Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2022] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021047556 (print) | LCCN 2021047557 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780190915674 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190915698 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Meinel, Aden B. | Meinel, Marjorie Pettit. |

AstronomersBiography. | Space astronomyInstruments.

Classification: LCC QB36.M46 B74 2022 (print) | LCC QB36.M46 (ebook) |

DDC 520.92/2 [B]dc23/eng/20211108

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047556

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047557

DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190915674.001.0001

Donald E. Osborn

I first met Aden Meinel in 1972 at a meeting of the New England Section of the Optical Society of America (OSA) in Boston, Massachusetts. At that time, Aden was the director of the up-and-coming Optical Sciences Center (OSC) at the UA in Tucson, and he had come to Boston to share his vision for the future of optics and optics education. I was immediately impressed by his knowledge as well as his enthusiasm and foresight. By the end of the meeting, I had desert fever and accepted a job at OSC two years later.

Now, almost 50 years later, I am pleased to write this forewordnot only because I have known Jim Breckinridge since the mid-1970s, but because I truly believe there is no one more qualified to write the Meinels remarkable story. Jims personal relationship with Aden and Marjoriefirst as Adens student at OSC, then later as Aden and Marjories friend and colleague at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Californiagave him the insight to not only write their history but also reflect on their character and the role it played in their success.

Spanning many fields of science and several of the worlds most important historical events, With Stars in Their Eyes is a biography that will appeal to many different groups of readers. Jim and his coauthor, Alec Pridgeon, weave science, history, and Aden and Marjories devotion to each other into a story many will enjoy. The diversity of the authors backgrounds brings fresh perspective to the breadth of interests and contributions of the Meinels. I believe this book will become a must-read for those wishing to understand more fully the long, storied history of the Optical Sciences Center that started with the incredible vision of one man, Aden Meinel, but also for those with interests including history, astronomy, engineering, and solar energy.

James C. Wyant

Emeritus Dean and Professor of Optical Sciences

College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

January 2021

This biography traces the professional lives of Aden and Marjorie Meinel from their fascinating ancestry through the Depression, World War II, and advanced academic degrees to careers at Yerkes Observatory, founding of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, Steward Observatory, and the founding of the College of Optical Sciences on the campus of the University of Arizona (UA), and finally to NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Interspersed with the academic posts were groundbreaking publications on solar energy and also high-level consultancy on aerial surveillance (spy planes and satellites) during the Cold War. Adens knowledge of rockets and optics placed him in high demand in Washington, DC, and elsewhere around the world, to the extent that he was once picked up in a Colorado pasture by helicopter while on vacation and then flown in a Lockheed JetStar from Durango to an urgent top-secret meeting in Washington.

Aden and Marjorie cultivated several fields of science and technology to produce significant changes to society during the 20th century. Born four years after World War I into middle-class families in Pasadena, California, they used rocket science, astrophysics, optical science, mechanical engineering, and renewable solar energy to change our world. Adens charismatic leadership, brilliant mind, and amazing ability to see, analyze, and dissect entire complicated systems long before others served him well.

Alec Pridgeon first became interested in the Meinels at a University of Michigan fraternity reunion in 2010. In conversations with his former roommate and mathematics savant, Gerald (Jerry) Newport, Pridgeon learned of the accomplishments and exploits of Jerrys father-in-law, astronomer Aden Meinel, and decided to present a talk on the Meinels to his local astronomy society. In the course of research, he interviewed, among others, Adens surviving sons Ed and David in Henderson, Nevada, and then drove down to Pasadena, California, to speak with Jim Breckinridge at the Caltech Athenaeum over lunch and persuade him to coauthor a biography of Aden and Marjorie. Years of research into all professional aspects of their lives then followed, fortunately before the Covid-19 pandemic temporarily closed down so many universities and institutions.

This book is based on over 200 hours of oral interviews with more than 30 persons who knew Aden and Marjorie or were familiar with their work. Over the course of more than four years, we conducted research at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and College Park, Maryland, University of California (UC) Santa Cruz (Lick Observatory), UC Berkeley (Bancroft Library), Caltech, Huntington Library (Mt. Wilson Observatory), University of Chicago, and four Presidential Libraries.

The authors brought diverse backgrounds to the project, which was probably necessary to cover the breadth of interests and contributions of the Meinels. Aden was Breckinridges master of science advisor at the Optical Sciences Center, UA. Later, both Aden and Marjorie worked in Breckinridges optics section at NASA/JPL for eight years after Aden retired from UA. Alecs interest in military history, the Cold War, and genealogy made him the ideal person to research and write about the Meinel/Pettit ancestors and Adens significant roles in the US Air Force and the CIA. Don Osborn was a young engineering student at UA in 1970 looking for a cause when he met Aden and Marjorie. Adens inspirational and charismatic enthusiasm for solar energy soon drew the young engineer into a career in renewable solar thermal energy. Today, Osborn is president of a major solar thermal energy company, Spectrum Energy Development.