Voting Station

Fred Whipple

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Astronomer

The Resume

    (November 5, 1906-August 30, 2004)
    Born in Red Oak, Iowa
    Joined the Harvard College Observatory (1931-77)
    Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (1955-73)
    Wrote 'Earth, Moon and Planets' (1941)
    Discovered six comets
    Developed the 'dirty snowball' theory that comet nuclei are solid chunks of frozen gases mixed with rock and dust particles (as opposed to the then-prevailing idea that comets were loose collections of rock and dust)
    Theory proven by the Giotto spacecraft flyby of Halley's Comet (1986)

Why he might be annoying:

    He originally planned to be a tennis pro and majored in math only because it came easily to him. ('[It] enabled me to bring home good grades without having to spend much time on studies.')
    He did not use the phrase 'dirty snowball' for his comet model, but rather the less catchy 'icy conglomerate.'
    He planned a program of cometary studies that got deep sixed thanks to NASA budget cuts.
    His two cars had the vanity plates 'PLANET' and 'COMETS.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    His second marriage, to Babette Samuelson, lasted 58 years.
    During World War II, he was co-inventor of a device to cut tinfoil into chaff to confuse enemy radar.
    He invented the Whipple shield to protect spacecraft from small meteors (1946).
    A fellow astronomer said, 'Unlike other great physicists, he had uncommon common sense. He just looked at things with a fresh eye.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 20 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 22 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 123 Votes: 59.35% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying