Albert Edward Whitford, an Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and formerly a Professor of Astronomy at University of Wisconsin-Madison, died on March 18, 2002 after a short illness. He resided at the Meriter Retirement Center at his death.
Dr. Whitford was born in Milton, Wisconsin in 1905. He earned a BA from Milton College in 1926, and a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1932. After post-doctoral work at the California Institute of Technology, he joined the Astronomy Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1935. During World War II, he worked in the Radiation Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the development of radar. From 1948 to 1958 he served as the chair of the Astronomy Department at the University of Wisconsin and Director of Washburn Observatory. During this period he oversaw the planning and construction of Pine Bluffs Observatory, the 36 inch research telescope near Pine Bluff, WI. In 1958 he became Director of Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton. At Lick Observatory, he oversaw the completion of the 120-inch Shane Telescope, at the time the second largest telescope in the world. In 1966 Whitford oversaw the transfer of the astronomy staff at Lick Observatory from Mt. Hamilton to the new University of California campus in Santa Cruz, California. Whitford served as professor, and later emeritus professor, in the Astronomy Department of the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1966 to 1996. At the age of 90, he returned to Madison, Wisconsin, where he maintained an office at the Astronomy Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, until October, 2001.
Whitford worked closely in the early years of his career with Professor Joel Stebbins of the Wisconsin Astronomy Department. Together they developed the technique of photoelectric photometry that revolutionized astronomical observations. In later years, Whitford did pioneering work on the structure of galaxies, particularly the Milky Way. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1964 chaired its panel that produced the outline of national research goals in Astronomy for the next decade. The report was influential in getting substantial additional funding for the development of ground-based telescopes at the time when efforts were being mounted to develop space telescopes. He received honorary doctorate degrees from Milton College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1966 he was chosen as the Henry Norris Russell Lecturer of the American Astronomical Society, that organization's highest honor. In 1996, he received the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, its highest honor.
Albert Whitford married Eleanor Bell Whitelaw in 1937 and the couple had 3 children. His wife, Eleanor, died in 1986 after 48 years of marriage. He is survived by his three children, William C. (Lynn) Whitford of Madison, WI, Mary (Nicolas) Graves of San Francisco, CA, and Martha Barss of Baltimore, MD; nine grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 1:30 PM in the Auditorium of the Meriter Health Center, 334 West Doty Street, Madison, WI 53703. Memorial contributions can be made to Lick Observatory at the following address: Office of the Director, UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064. Cress Funeral Home, Madison, was in charge of arrangements.
