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DDA Newsletter #75 - October 1993

Contents

Electronic Mailing

This is the first DDA Newsletter that is being transmitted partially by electronic mail. If you received this via email it means that the DDA has a valid address for you and that you will not receive a printed copy. We presently have email addresses for 137 members (of 230). If you prefer to receive printed copies of DDA announcements then please let the Secretary know.

If you received a printed copy of this Newsletter then the DDA does not have a valid electronic mail address for you. Electronic mail offers us a tremendous cost savings (about 50% on this mailing alone). If you would like to receive future announcements by email please send the Secretary (alw@astro.as.utexas.edu) your address.

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Santa Barbara Meeting

The 24th meeting of the DDA was held in Santa Barbara California on May 13-15, 1993. Roy Laubscher and several people at Geodynamics Corporation did an outstanding job with the meeting organization. A total of 35 contributed DDA talks were presented in addition to the invited lectures given by Peter Bender and Gerald Quinlan. The Brouwer Lecture entitled "The Effect of the Nebula on the Trojan Precursors" was given by Stan Peale. Ed Krupp, the Director of the Griffith Observatory, gave a fascinating banquet speech entitled "Under Maya Skies: The Cosmos, the Calendar, and the King."

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Brouwer Award

The Brouwer Award of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy for 1993 went to Alar Toomre of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is viewed by many as one of the leading authorities in galactic dynamics because of his major analytical contributions to important theoretical questions. His work is widely known and used; his influence on the field is enormous. Toomre models of interacting galaxies were one of the first such treatments to be found in undergraduate texts. That his work is continuing is evidenced by the fact that a recent paper with Agris Kalnajs on the influence of graininess on structure in shearing disks is reported already to have had a major impact in the field. Toomre sets and meets very high standards in publication. Dr. Toomre will give his Brouwer Award lecture at the AAS meeting in Minneapolis.

The Brouwer Award Selection Committee (BASC) for 1993-94 consists of: Bruce Smith (Committee Chair), Alice Monet (DDA Chair), Stan Peale (past winner), Alan Boss (continuing member), and Jim Williams (new member).

All members are reminded that the BASC invites nominations from any member of the American Astronomical Society. The Brouwer Award has been established to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of Dynamical Astronomy, including celestial mechanics, astrometry, geophysics, stellar systems, galactic and extragalactic dynamics. It is open to candidates of any age or nationality, occupation, or specific field of interest. The Award consists of an honorarium plus an appropriate certificate. Letters of nomination should cite the achievements in, or contributions to, Dynamical Astronomy that might appropriately be recognized by the Award. Nominations are to be supported by copies of the vitae and bibliography of the nominee and by letters of recommendation from three knowledgeable people testifying to the long-term impact of the nominee's contributions to Dynamical Astronomy. Nominations and supporting documentation should be sent to the following (from whom further information may be obtained) so as to be received not later than December 28, 1993: Dr. Bruce F. Smith, Code 245-3, NASA/AMES Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035.

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Election Results

The new Chair for the 1993-94 year is Alice Monet. Alan Fiala was elected to serve as Vice Chair. Peter Shelus was reelected as Treasurer and Art Whipple will continue as Secretary. The new Committee members are George Benedict, Tom Corbin, and Joel Tohline. Barbara Schreur, David Richardson, and Timothy Carroll will continue on their second year as Committee members. A total of 82 election ballots were received by the deadline. The total DDA membership numbers 230.

The Nominating Committee for 1993-1994 will be Myles Standish (past Chair), Carol Williams, and Jim Rohde.

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Next Meeting

The DDA regular meeting for 1994 will be hosted by Texas A&M - Kingsville, on March 27-29. Probably only the Committee meeting will be held on Sunday, the 27th, with the scientific sessions being held on Monday and Tuesday. Barbara Schreur (Texas A&M - Kingsville, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Kingsville, TX 78363, 512-595-2627, 512-595-2106 (FAX), kfbs000@taivm2.taiu.edu) is the local host. She, Alan Fiala, and Art Whipple will act as the organizing committee. Brian Marsden will be the featured speaker for the banquet. Invited speakers for scientific sessions include Hal Levison, John Ries, and Richard Eanes. Special sessions are being planned, tentatively to include as topics the Kuiper Belt, comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9, and experiments in dynamics and relativity from spacecraft. Kingsville, Texas, is located just inland from Padre Island on the Gulf of Mexico. The beach, often called the Texas Riviera, is an hour's drive away through Corpus Christi. Seafood, Tex-Mex and Texas Bar-B-Q tempt the palate. The town itself is small and quiet with the principal industries being a Naval Air Station, the University, petrochemicals and the famous King Ranch. The weather at the end of March is usually clear with temperatures in the 70's to low 80's.

Further information about meeting and hotel registration, along with the abstract forms, will be included with the next Newsletter. The abstract deadline will be 22 February 1994. In the meantime, we would like to repeat last year's experiment and include a list of possible participants with the next Newsletter. Please take a moment to fill out the slip at the end of this Newsletter and return it to the Secretary. Each participant may give both an oral and a poster paper (but not two oral papers). This could be used to make presentations on two subjects or two presentations on the same subject (the oral giving the overview and the poster giving the details).

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The 1995 DDA Meeting

Even as we prepare for our next meeting in Kingsville, Texas, we are already planning the 1995 meeting. After many years of lobbying, Roy Laubscher finally got his idea of holding the DDA meeting in Yosemite before a DDA Committee that was adventurous (or gullible) enough. So the 1995 meeting of the DDA will be held in Yosemite Valley at the Yosemite National Park. The dates of the meeting are 25-27 April 1995 and they are firm. Because of the somewhat exotic nature of this location, members may wish to contact Roy early. He can be reached at Geodynamics Corporation, 5266 Hollister Ave., Suite 117, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. His telephone number is 805-964-2814. He does not have an email address. Please give him a call and tell him he needs one.

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A Publications Request

Gene Byrd is writing a review on computer simulations of galaxies. He writes that he would welcome preprints or reprints on this subject. He can be reached at: Dr. Gene Byrd, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0324, byrd@okra.astr.ua.edu

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     1994 AAS/DDA Meeting, Kingsville, Texas, March 27-29, 1994

Name: 
Address:

___ I plan to attend the meeting 
___ I may attend the meeting
___ I do not plan to attend the meeting

I would like to give a the following paper(s) on:
___ Oral   ___ Poster  Title:
           ___ Poster  Title:

Please return to:  Art Whipple, alw@astro.as.utexas.edu, or McDonald 
Observatory, University of Texas, Austin, TX  78712-1083

Arthur L. Whipple, Secretary DDA
University of Texas
McDonald Observatory
Austin, Texas 78712-1083
Phone: (512) 471-6332
Internet: alw@astro.as.utexas.edu