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Dr Graeme L. White Postal Address Telephone Facsimile: (07) 4781 5880
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About me
Welcome to my Home page.
I am an Adjunct Associate Professor of the Centre for Astronomy at the James Cook University (JCU).
James Cook University is named after James Cook, the explorer and astronomer. James Cook University is centred in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Townsville is a fabulous, albeit small, city in the tropical regions of Northern Queensland, Australia. The latitude of Townsville is 19 degrees south, and thus it is truly a tropical city. In summer, the Sun goes through the zenith (well, 4.5 degrees to the south of the zenith to be precise).
Townsville is the unofficial capital for the region and it is a gateway to the Australian Great Barrier Reef. James Cook University has many excellent schools specializing in reef/ocean studies. Townsville is in the dry tropics and boasts 300 plus sunny days per year. These are all in the winter, as in the summer, there is a substantial rainy period from December to March.
I am a life long amateur astronomer. My first memories of astronomy relates to my early childhood, and I remember seeing Sputnik 1 (to be truthful, it was not Sputnik 1 but rather the third stage rocket that was in orbit behind the satellite) passing over my parents house in Wagga Wagga. I was 9 at the time; I was born on the Summer Solstice in December 1947, the day that the discovery of the transistor was anounced to the world.
Me at the age of 13 with the famous 2 inch telescope.
My first telescope was a 1 cm pocket telescope (of no great light gathering power) and then I obtained a 30 mm spyglass with which I started my love affair with the Moon. I still have that telescope. Patrick Moore’s book, A Guide to the Moon did not help by developing obsessive behavior, nor did James Nangle’s Stars of the Southern Heavens. Next came the telescope that was famous on my block, the “mighty” 2 inch, f/36, non-achromatic refractor with which I discovered Uranus in the tail of Leo in 1961.
More details of Graeme's early astronomical adventures
Like all amateurs I needed a bigger telescope, so I ground a 6 inch mirror in the third (and very academically important) year of High School, and ruined my academic performance that year. This, unfortunately, set a pattern of ‘amateur astronomy achievement when academic achievement is most needed’ that has followed me. I still have the six-inch telescope although it is much modified from the original design. Gone is the equatorial mount made from water pipe, and a modern Dobsonian mount now holds the 40 year old tube. The mirror has been reworked, and an inch-and-a-quarter focuser has replaced the original one-inch helical focuser. Aluminum has replaced ply wood for the mirror cell. Like uncle Tom’s axe with its many new heads and new handles, it is the same telescope that I built.
I graduated from Wagga Wagga High School in 1965, and started a career in Industrial Chemistry working at the Port Kembla Steel Work in 1966, after a short and disastrous career in banking where the high-light of the 6 weeks was when I set fire to the fence at the back of the bank while burning old bank notes (I should have kept the dirty old notes and saved the fence).
Unfortunately for me, I was did not achieve sufficient marks at high school to go to university, so I went the circular route via TAFE college.
In the seventies, I was awarded an undergraduate scholarship and I sold the sports car to head off to university. Being a bad student, and having no money and no sports car, I amused myself with a poor astronomical substitute in the evenings…..searching the western horizon for a comet that may have sneaked into the vicinity of the sun. Comet White-Ortiz-Bolelli was discovered in 1970 using a pair of 7x50 binoculars.
See the following page for or more related to comets.
Comet White-Ortiz-Bolelli. The last of the great Sungrazing comets.
Ortiz (left) and White (right), two of the three Co-discovers of Comet White-Ortiz-Bolelli. Bolelli was killed in a motor accident in the 1970’s or early 1980’s.
I graduated with a BSc in 1974 and worked for a short time as a research assistant at Mount Stromlo Observatory (at Canberra) and at the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Coonabarrabran. I then moved to Sydney University and took a MSc and then a PhD. True to form, when the effort was needed for the PhD, I decided that I needed a bigger telescope so I bought a 17.5 inch mirror from Coulter Optics and built the “big-Dob Mk I”. I was obsessed with Telescope Making magazine even though I knew that it was no good for me and that it would eventually lead to my downfall. That was 1982. I forget how much I paid for the mirror but I do remember that the exchange rate between Australia and the US was AUD 1.00 = USD 1.18! We have come a long way here in Australia since then, but not in terms of the strength of the AUD! I also remember that it took 14 months for the mirror to be delivered – “shame”.
The Mark 1 version of the 17.5 inch Dobsonian
The big-Dob was a success until it was taken to the dump by accident. It was used for teaching and it was the center piece of the Mount Wilson nights that were run through Sydney WEA. Lucky for me, the optics were not in the telescope during its death throws. The big-Dob has been reborn in recent days and is now in Wagga Wagga where the skies are clear and dark, and where it will be the second instrument for the Wagga Wagga Observatory- see below.
As well as being a researcher, I was interested in the history of astronomy, and fascinated by the works of early Australian astronomers.
Me sitting on the stones of the transit telescope at the remains of the Brisbane
Observatory in Parramatta, NSW, Australia.
Note the pink and grey "Galah
Car" in the background - that's mine.
Upon Graduation with the worlds fattest PhD, I worked for a short time for the Fluers Synthesis Telescope (FST) and then for the Anglo-Australian Observatory at Epping. Then, thanks to the support of a highly respected colleague, to whom I am eternally indebted, I jagged a position with the world famous Radio Physics Division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which later became the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF). I was there for 5 years during the construction stage of the Compact Array of the Australia Telescope. My research was in astrometry, radio source identification and Quasar spectroscopy and I was a Principal Investigator on the ESA HIPPARCOS astrometric spacecraft. During this time I lived in Paris for six months and worked as a guest at the Bureau des Longitudes.
The BDL is one of the oldest and most respected research institutes in France and was housed in the grounds of Paris Observatory. The BDL was founded by Napoleon to address the problem of determining longitude, the French equivalent of the English Board of Longitude.
In 1989 I took a Graduate Diploma in Corporate Management through a private sector supplier so as to be able to take the fight to the economic pests that ruin our scientific lives.
In 1990 I joined the University of Western Sydney (UWS) Nepean in the Physics Department, and in 1997 I formed the Nepean Centre for Astronomy. I built the Nepean Observatory with financial help from the Australian Government. It is a fabulous observatory and I know of nothing like it in the world. The Centre was very successful, and created the worlds first Internet Master’s degree in Astronomy (the AIM), Australia’s first Bachelor’s degree in Astronomy (the B.Astro) and in Space Sciences (B.Space Sciences), as well as graduating several PhD graduates who are all developing better careers than that of their old “professor”.
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| The Nepean Observatory – which I built. |
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| Other views of the Nepean Observtaory |
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The 24 inch telescope of the Nepean Observatory. | |
All good things come to an end, and I left UWS in 2001.
Other achievements of which I am rather proud was the formation of the Western Sydney Amateur Astronomy Group (WSAAG) in 1991. This amateur club still exists after 10 years and at one stage held an admirable record as having made the last three extra-galactic supernova visual discoveries. WSAAG now have their own observatory at Linden with a 30 inch Dobsonian.
About 1998 I managed to purchase a 24 inch research grade telescope, surplus to need, from an Australian university. This telescope was originally made for IR research with optics by the famous Australia optician Bill James.
The Wagga Wagga “Mean, Green Machine that Sees the Un-seen”.
In 2002 I joined forces with colleagues in Wagga Wagga with the intention of building an observatory in the city. These are good guys (we are all good guys) and the observatory will be a fabulous asset for the city. I will supply the telescope, the council has supplied the land, and the rest will come as a result of hard work.
The Wagga Wagga Observatory Project
The Present:
So, that brings me to the present – I have now left the Centre for Astronomy at James Cook University, having built it up to four and a half staff.
Me at a glance:
Graeme White with the big brass (3 inch) telescope and pretending to be James Cook.
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| My mug-shot from my CSIRO days and me at 22 when I discovered the comet | |
My CV:
Formal CV for your amusement…..
Music:
Beethoven’s Ninth, last movement.Cream’s first Album – “Fresh Cream”
“Blind Faith”
Janice Joplin’s “Summertime”.
“Electric Ladyland”
BBM (Baker, Bruce and Moore)
Cars:
Likes:- Small cars, open top cars (with the exception of the mini-moke!).
More History…..
The very affordable Mazda MX5………
It’s mine, all mine…..!
Desires (but can’t afford):
Others Likes:
Sailboats
History of the American Civil War and WWI.
Books.
Photography.
My very Humble Publications, again for your amusement.
