Mr. and Mrs. Mike Gibson Re-Elected to McDonald Observatory Board of Visitors

8 August 2013

FORT DAVIS — Mr. and Mrs. Mike Gibson of Houston have been re-elected to a three-year term as Members of The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and Department of Astronomy Board of Visitors.

 ”My interest in astronomy was started in my childhood by accompanying my father on visits to Chicago's Hayden Planetarium and Museum of Science and Industry,” Mr. Gibson said. “Later, this was stimulated by my work as an Army Corps of Engineers officer assigned to NASA during the Apollo, Skylab, and early shuttle programs and highlighted by my participation in the Apollo 13 rescue. The small business I co-founded worked with NASA and Japanese construction company Shimizu on lunar oxygen process research. Another BOV and fellow Explorers Club member, Paul Teten, was also very helpful in encouraging me to join the BOV.”

 Mr. and Mrs. Gibson joined the Board of Visitors in 2010.

 The Board of Visitors is a supporter’s group for the Texas Astronomy Program. It has accomplished great things, from funding chairs, professorships, and fellowships at the University, to developing private contributions for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the Frank N. Bash Visitors Center at McDonald Observatory. The Board’s Planned Giving Committee raises funds for the Observatory’s future, and the Lighting Ordinance Committee ensures that McDonald enjoys the darkest night skies of any professional observatory in the continental United States.

 Established in 1932, The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas, hosts multiple telescopes undertaking a wide range of astronomical research. McDonald is home to the consortium-run Hobby- Eberly Telescope (a joint project of The University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen). An internationally known leader in astronomy education and outreach, McDonald Observatory is also pioneering the next generation of astronomical research as a founding partner of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

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Mike Gibson

Mike Gibson