[ATM] Dobson

[artbianconi@blast.net]

Dobson was NOT kicked out of the monastery for building 
telescopes.

In a filmed interview (circa 1990) for a PBS special on him, 
Dobson said he  left the monastic life not because he wanted to 
build or use telescopes but because the rules of the monastery 
demanded that he be back inside before sundown.  

More than anything else, Dobson loves enrolling people in the 
experience of astronomy. Enlivening their lives with astronomy 
also gives him a sense of making a difference in their lives. 
"People who feel needed, stick around" he said. Obviously has 
been successful at making himself needed and appreciated!

Conversely, those who do not feel needed die off quickly. To hear 
him say it, having to be back inside the monastic sanctuary 
before dark interfered with most everything that was of value to 
him and threatened him with a brief existence.

Dobson is a physicist and was a key figure in the theoretical 
dialogue that was taking place at the Manhattan Project in the 
early 40's and whose intent was to build the first nuclear 
weapon. 

I am a little distracted by the fact that a monastically inclined 
spirit of his caliber would knowingly contribute to the 
development of such a device. I am not suggesting that such 
weapons are evil; I am just perplexed that a man of such 
spiritual temperament would help build one. 

By contrast, Enrico Ferme was not, in public, nearly as obvious a 
man of deep spiritual convictions as a Dobson. Yet, when the 
first successful nuclear pile was taken critical under his watch, 
Fermi is said to have seen it's potential as a  weapon of mass 
destruction. He withdrew from any further experiments and ceased 
contributing to the project. Dobson has spoken relatively little 
on his own activity during that period, choosing instead to focus 
on his first love, astronomy. Is it avoidance of a difficult 
moral issue or simply a priority of passion? I don't know.

Dobson lectured at NEAF in New York last year (? or the year 
before). I had a chance to address this apparent contradiction 
and blew it. 

Apparent contradictions notwithstanding, Dobson's spirit is 
fantastic. The way he shows up in the world is inspiring and 
worthy of emulation. 

Last I heard he was still actively conducting telescope making 
classes at a college (?) in San Francisco and STILL riding around 
the city and it's suburbs in a van and doing spontaneous sidewalk 
astronomy sessions for pedestrians.

What a guy! 

If you have any  intention of being with the  man, I urge you to  
act on that quickly as he is getting on in years and it's any 
one's guess how  much longer he'll be with us. 

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to talk about him.

Art Bianconi


David asked:

I hear he was born in China and moved here to America, and he 
lived in a monastery where he was kicked out for building 
telescopes!!  


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