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Sentinel Peak Books
Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to the Moon and Planets
President Kennedy’s announcement that an American would walk on the Moon before the end of the 1960s took the scientific world by surprise. The study of the Moon and planets had long fallen out of favor with they were the stuff of science fiction, not science.
An upstart planetary laboratory in Tucson would play a vital role in the nation’s grand new venture, and in doing so, it would help create the field of planetary science. Founded by Gerard P. Kuiper in 1960, the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona broke free from traditional astronomical techniques to embrace a wide range of disciplines necessary to the study of planets, including geology, atmospheric sciences, and the elegant emerging technology of spacecraft. Brash, optimistic young students crafted a unique sense of camaraderie in the fledgling institution. Driven by curiosity and imagination, LPL scientists lived through—and, indeed, made happen—the shattering transition in which Earth’s nearest neighbors became more than simple points of light in the sky.
Under Desert Skies tells the story of how a small corner of Arizona became Earth’s ambassador to space. From early efforts to reach the Moon to the first glimpses of Mars’s bleak horizons and Titan’s swirling atmosphere to the latest ambitious plans to touch an asteroid, LPL’s history encompasses humanity’s unfolding knowledge about our place in the universe.
An upstart planetary laboratory in Tucson would play a vital role in the nation’s grand new venture, and in doing so, it would help create the field of planetary science. Founded by Gerard P. Kuiper in 1960, the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona broke free from traditional astronomical techniques to embrace a wide range of disciplines necessary to the study of planets, including geology, atmospheric sciences, and the elegant emerging technology of spacecraft. Brash, optimistic young students crafted a unique sense of camaraderie in the fledgling institution. Driven by curiosity and imagination, LPL scientists lived through—and, indeed, made happen—the shattering transition in which Earth’s nearest neighbors became more than simple points of light in the sky.
Under Desert Skies tells the story of how a small corner of Arizona became Earth’s ambassador to space. From early efforts to reach the Moon to the first glimpses of Mars’s bleak horizons and Titan’s swirling atmosphere to the latest ambitious plans to touch an asteroid, LPL’s history encompasses humanity’s unfolding knowledge about our place in the universe.
184 pages, Paperback
Published February 25, 2016
6 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Melissa L. Sevigny
4 books109 followersMelissa L. Sevigny grew up in Tucson, Arizona where she fell in love with the Sonoran Desert’s ecology, geology and dark desert skies. Her lyrical nonfiction explores the intersections of science, nature, and history, with a focus on the American Southwest. Sevigny has worked as a science communicator in the fields of planetary science, western water policy, and sustainable agriculture. She has degrees in environmental science and creative writing, and volunteers as the interviews editor for Terrain.org. She’s currently a full time journalist in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 6, 2016
I really enjoyed the book, often for very personal reasons. I heard about the book after inquiries regarding the death of Ewen Whitaker. My reading of the book brought back a flood of memories.
I had come to the University of Arizona in the summer of 1965 as a junior year mechanical engineering student and had been an amateur astronomer since the sixth grade. I got to visit with Ewen Whitaker as my first contact with the Lunar & Planetary Lab. At that time they were still in the Physics, Mathematics & Meteorology (PMM) Building where I had classes. I met with Ewen a couple of times and I remember him being so approachable & easy to talk to. He was a very genuine enthusiast. I also met Dennis Milon, a photographer at LPL, who is mentioned on page 24. Dennis & I developed a friendship that continued into our later years in the Boston area.
I assisted with the move from the PMM Building to the new LPL Building on the east end of campus. I remember in the washroom off the photo darkroom there was a bar of “Lava” soap and one of the grad students observing “that seems appropriate!” Clearly a reference to LPL views on lunar origins in contrast to Harold Urey’s “cold Moon” theory. The “cold Moon” theory controversy is mentioned in the book. The Looney Lab nomenclature was alive and well as early as 1965.
Several things came together to allow me to become a LPL employee. From my mechanical engineering training I obtained some rudimentary machining skills. One of my fellow engineering classmates worked in the LPL machine shop and knew they sometimes hired student help. Between my classmate and references from Ewen and Dennis, I got hired for my first paying job in the LPL machine shop, half time, Summer of 1967. Working in the shop was a heady and remarkable experience, although we didn’t have much interaction with the other Lab staff unless they came down to discuss something we were making for them. I didn’t see much of the building and am disappointed to learn from the book of the marvels there. I do remember the venerable Doctor Kuiper & his reputation. I only physically saw him once, in this suit and tie, in the hallway outside the shop, looking quite fatherly & stern. The grad students held him in great awe, one remarking of his initials: “GPK, pronounced God.” No doubt the LPL existed because of him and he was in total control. The book was interesting since there are so many names that sound familiar from my machine shop days. There was one grad student, whose name I cannot recall, for whom I made brackets and things to mount his equipment on some telescope. He was doing research on lunar transient phenomena, searching for active volcanism in the support of the “not cold” Moon theory. His lack of knowledge of things mechanical and my ability to help him was very rewarding. He also quivered in fear of the dreaded Doctor K. I definitely remember making a set of focusing knobs for Alika Herring – a name I had known from his lunar drawings published in “Sky & Telescope” magazine and his renown as a telescope mirror maker. I never got to meet or interact with him but his name was on the shop order.
The book does a wonderful job of capturing the feelings of the lab in those early years. It also goes on to document how the lab has changed and metamorphosed over time. I enjoyed the anecdotes of the later Looney Lab associates. Also I enjoyed how the work of the Lunar Lab has grown and changed and the underlying story of our exploration of the solar system and how that knowledge evolved as a result. It makes me even more proud to be a, however modest, Loony Lab alumni. I am grateful Melissa Sevigny for capturing the stories for prosperity.
I had come to the University of Arizona in the summer of 1965 as a junior year mechanical engineering student and had been an amateur astronomer since the sixth grade. I got to visit with Ewen Whitaker as my first contact with the Lunar & Planetary Lab. At that time they were still in the Physics, Mathematics & Meteorology (PMM) Building where I had classes. I met with Ewen a couple of times and I remember him being so approachable & easy to talk to. He was a very genuine enthusiast. I also met Dennis Milon, a photographer at LPL, who is mentioned on page 24. Dennis & I developed a friendship that continued into our later years in the Boston area.
I assisted with the move from the PMM Building to the new LPL Building on the east end of campus. I remember in the washroom off the photo darkroom there was a bar of “Lava” soap and one of the grad students observing “that seems appropriate!” Clearly a reference to LPL views on lunar origins in contrast to Harold Urey’s “cold Moon” theory. The “cold Moon” theory controversy is mentioned in the book. The Looney Lab nomenclature was alive and well as early as 1965.
Several things came together to allow me to become a LPL employee. From my mechanical engineering training I obtained some rudimentary machining skills. One of my fellow engineering classmates worked in the LPL machine shop and knew they sometimes hired student help. Between my classmate and references from Ewen and Dennis, I got hired for my first paying job in the LPL machine shop, half time, Summer of 1967. Working in the shop was a heady and remarkable experience, although we didn’t have much interaction with the other Lab staff unless they came down to discuss something we were making for them. I didn’t see much of the building and am disappointed to learn from the book of the marvels there. I do remember the venerable Doctor Kuiper & his reputation. I only physically saw him once, in this suit and tie, in the hallway outside the shop, looking quite fatherly & stern. The grad students held him in great awe, one remarking of his initials: “GPK, pronounced God.” No doubt the LPL existed because of him and he was in total control. The book was interesting since there are so many names that sound familiar from my machine shop days. There was one grad student, whose name I cannot recall, for whom I made brackets and things to mount his equipment on some telescope. He was doing research on lunar transient phenomena, searching for active volcanism in the support of the “not cold” Moon theory. His lack of knowledge of things mechanical and my ability to help him was very rewarding. He also quivered in fear of the dreaded Doctor K. I definitely remember making a set of focusing knobs for Alika Herring – a name I had known from his lunar drawings published in “Sky & Telescope” magazine and his renown as a telescope mirror maker. I never got to meet or interact with him but his name was on the shop order.
The book does a wonderful job of capturing the feelings of the lab in those early years. It also goes on to document how the lab has changed and metamorphosed over time. I enjoyed the anecdotes of the later Looney Lab associates. Also I enjoyed how the work of the Lunar Lab has grown and changed and the underlying story of our exploration of the solar system and how that knowledge evolved as a result. It makes me even more proud to be a, however modest, Loony Lab alumni. I am grateful Melissa Sevigny for capturing the stories for prosperity.
November 5, 2016
Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to the Moon and Planets. By Melissa Sevigny. University of Arizona Press, 2016.
Reviewed by James Prothero
This is an intricate history of how a handful of heretical astronomers defied the conventional wisdom of the mid fifties in the astronomy community and had the temerity to study the moon and planets instead of the stars. Starting with stubborn and visionary Gerard Kuiper, they found a home in odd buildings at the University of Arizona in Tucson and began the Lunar Planetary Lab. The rest of the astronomy community knew it as the “Loony Lab,” but the enterprise grew steadily in a small way until President Kennedy announced the goal of a man on the moon before the end of the decade.
Given the NASA boost, the LPL led the way in mapping the moon and working out the basic science necessary to put a man on the moon. This success led to two things: first, the increasingly larger role of the LPL in planetary exploration as various probes were launched across the solar system, and secondly, the expansion of the LPL to a full department of Planetary Science at the University of Arizona and its role in producing a generation of scientists trained to explore that same solar system, a role it still serves today.
What gives this possibly dry history its spice is Sevigny's interest in conveying the quirky personalities and the human side of this burgeoning community of planetary explorers. Scientists have a deserved reputation for odd senses of humor, and the stresses of shepherding a probe mission brings these out in large comic relief. The section on Hawthorne House, a rented house in Tucson which became the unofficial dorm and crash pad for scores of LPL grad students is pleasantly humorous.
All in all, these is a pleasant read and a must read for anyone interested in the planets and how we came to explore them.
Reviewed by James Prothero
This is an intricate history of how a handful of heretical astronomers defied the conventional wisdom of the mid fifties in the astronomy community and had the temerity to study the moon and planets instead of the stars. Starting with stubborn and visionary Gerard Kuiper, they found a home in odd buildings at the University of Arizona in Tucson and began the Lunar Planetary Lab. The rest of the astronomy community knew it as the “Loony Lab,” but the enterprise grew steadily in a small way until President Kennedy announced the goal of a man on the moon before the end of the decade.
Given the NASA boost, the LPL led the way in mapping the moon and working out the basic science necessary to put a man on the moon. This success led to two things: first, the increasingly larger role of the LPL in planetary exploration as various probes were launched across the solar system, and secondly, the expansion of the LPL to a full department of Planetary Science at the University of Arizona and its role in producing a generation of scientists trained to explore that same solar system, a role it still serves today.
What gives this possibly dry history its spice is Sevigny's interest in conveying the quirky personalities and the human side of this burgeoning community of planetary explorers. Scientists have a deserved reputation for odd senses of humor, and the stresses of shepherding a probe mission brings these out in large comic relief. The section on Hawthorne House, a rented house in Tucson which became the unofficial dorm and crash pad for scores of LPL grad students is pleasantly humorous.
All in all, these is a pleasant read and a must read for anyone interested in the planets and how we came to explore them.
January 17, 2021
Melissa L. Sevigny's brief history of Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), Under Desert Skies, was a bit of a disappointment. Three-and-a-half stars would be my rating if that was possible. The book is a pretty short one (150 pages), and an easy read.
Under Desert Skies manages to give only glimpses of the various branches of planetary science and astronomy that the LPL has contributed to since 1960 when Gerard Kuiper founded it (and by founding LPL, he more or less founded planetary science as we know it today). In all fairness, the book doesn’t pretend to be a detailed account of everything that’s ever taken place at LPL, so as an introductory text it works just fine. I just would have wanted something more.
My main problem with the book is the structure. Events are told in a roughly chronological order, although there’s some jumping back and forth. There wasn’t that much repetition, but enough to annoy me occasionally (the repetition and the introductory level of the text gave me brief sensations of those unwatchable American TV documentaries, and I hate it when that happens). Instead of the chronological approach, perhaps I would have liked it better if Sevigny would have focused on one research group / branch of planetary science or astronomy at a time?
The book is accompanied by an excellent website on the history of LPL (that’s how I originally found out about the book a few years ago). That website (https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/about/his...) is an excellent resource in its own right, and every reader of Under Desert Skies should take a close look at it.
In summary, it’s a nice little entertaining book (if you happen to be interested in the history of planetary science) and certainly worth reading, but I wouldn’t consider it a necessity.
Under Desert Skies manages to give only glimpses of the various branches of planetary science and astronomy that the LPL has contributed to since 1960 when Gerard Kuiper founded it (and by founding LPL, he more or less founded planetary science as we know it today). In all fairness, the book doesn’t pretend to be a detailed account of everything that’s ever taken place at LPL, so as an introductory text it works just fine. I just would have wanted something more.
My main problem with the book is the structure. Events are told in a roughly chronological order, although there’s some jumping back and forth. There wasn’t that much repetition, but enough to annoy me occasionally (the repetition and the introductory level of the text gave me brief sensations of those unwatchable American TV documentaries, and I hate it when that happens). Instead of the chronological approach, perhaps I would have liked it better if Sevigny would have focused on one research group / branch of planetary science or astronomy at a time?
The book is accompanied by an excellent website on the history of LPL (that’s how I originally found out about the book a few years ago). That website (https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/about/his...) is an excellent resource in its own right, and every reader of Under Desert Skies should take a close look at it.
In summary, it’s a nice little entertaining book (if you happen to be interested in the history of planetary science) and certainly worth reading, but I wouldn’t consider it a necessity.
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June 16, 2024I'm embarrassed to be giving up on this. It's extremely well-researched and kind of interesting, but just not to my taste. It's really (or at least at the point where I quit), nothing to do with Tucson the city, but rather all about the astronomy centers and telescopes in the Tucson area. I had thought it was going to be a big drama about how the observatory staff convinced the people and businesses of the city to turn down their lights at night, keeping the light pollution from destroying their work place. And that part may have been coming, but at halfway through, all I'd read had been simply history of the observatories and the people who worked there. Important history, but dry.
June 11, 2017
Under Desert Skies is an informative and fun read about the history of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. I am perhaps a bit biased (I'm a native of Tucson & an astronomy graduate from University of Arizona), but the book does a great job of highlighting the UofA's important role in the exploration of our solar system.
April 24, 2018
A nice short history about planetary science research at the U of AZ. Some pretty amazing discoveries.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews