Apr

John Hockmeier

John Hockmeier in New Zealand at one of the locations seen in “The Lord of the Rings” films. “Beautiful country and people!”

John Hockemeier has been a docent and tour guide at the Whipple Observatory in Amado, Ariz. for a decade. He points out that it easy to forget that the Whipple Observatory is one of the Smithsonian’s largest field operations. “The MMT telescope at the observatory was the third largest in the world when it was dedicated in 2000. Currently, it’s the 14th largest and deserves some public recognition!”

John enjoys introducing visitors to astronomy and the tools—telescopes—that astronomers use. “Several years ago, I took 30 grade-school kids (6-, 7- and 8-year-olds) and their parents on a tour. The parents were not English speakers so the kids translated for me. There’s a gate on the mountain road on the way to the telescope that’s operated automatically when the tour bus approaches. As we approached the gate, I told a 6-year old boy sitting by me that I would open the gate by just using my mind. The gate opened and I smiled at the boy in triumph. In a loud voice the boy proclaimed, ‘You didn’t do that. The sign on the gate says ‘Danger, gate opens and closes automatically.’ ‘ The rest of the tour group cheered him, as did I. I felt that the kids were in good hands and I thanked the teachers who’d come along for doing such a good job. I tell this story on almost all my tours and it always get a good laugh. (My bus drivers, however, are getting tired of it!)”

(Read about Secretary Clough’s 2011 visit to the Whipple Observatory here.)