Fred Whipple
Famous American Astronomer
1906-2004
Background Info
• Fred Whipple was stricken with polio as a
youth and could not become a professional
tennis player.
• He attended college in California where he
focused on astrology because it is where time,
space, math, and physics have a common
meeting ground.
Background Info
• While in graduate school, Whipple helped
map out the orbit of the newly discovered
planet Pluto.
• Whipple worked at Harvard college
observatory for over 70 years discovering
comets and asteroids.
• He is most famous for the invention of the
Whipple shield and the dirty snowball
hypothesis.
The Whipple Shield
This is a meteor bumper that protects a spaceship by vaporizing deadly debris.
(Debris may still contact the craft but it will be disintegrated and spread over a
larger area.) This device protects both manned and unmanned vessels.
The Dirty Snowball Hypothesis
Whipple proposed that comets were in fact icy objects that contained rock
rather than rocky objects that contain ice. However, many comets have since
shown a low ice to rock ratio, and the theory is regarded as unimportant.
Whipple Discovered 6 comets
Meteors come from comets. No meteors have been shown to come from
outside of the solar system.
1933 held two of Whipple’s most famous discoveries, comet 36p/Whipple and
asteroid 1252 Celestia.
Operation Moonwatch observes Sputnik
Whipple foresaw the era of artificial satellites and organized a group called
operation moonwatch to track them. They were the only ones who were
ready to make observations when the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957.
The oldest living astronomer passes away at 97.
His most exciting moment was inviting his family to the Rose Garden to accept
the Distinguished Federal Civilian Service award in 1963 presented by
president J.F.K. Married in 1946, Whipple has three children.