The Arecibo Observatory: A History of Innovation and Discovery

About Donald Campbell

Donald Campbell obtained his BSc and MSc degrees in physics from the University of Sydney in 1962 and 1964 respectively. For his MSc he worked on aspects of the initial construction of the Molongo (Mills) Cross radio telescope. In 1971 he obtained a PhD from Cornell University based on early radar interferometric mapping of the surface of Venus using the Arecibo 305 m telescope. As a graduate student he also became involved with polarization studies of pulsars. With one brief interruption he was on the staff of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico from 1971 to 1987 working on radar studies of planets and satellites with emphasis on imaging the surface of Venus beneath its dense cloud cover. This work resulted in the first large scale image of the surface of Venus with good enough resolution to identify impact craters and other geologic features. For this he was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 1984. He was appointed Associate Director ofthe Observatory in 1979 and served as Director from 1981 to 1987. In 1988 he joined the faculty of the astronomy department at Cornell University continuing his planetary studies including as a co-investigator on the Magellan radar mission to Venus. Working with Cornell graduate students he explored the polar regions of the Moon looking for evidence of ice deposits studied the radar scattering properties of the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn Europa Ganymede Callisto Titan and Iapetus and used the polarization properties of the reflected radar signals to investigate surficial deposits on the surface of Venus and to look for regoliths on near earth asteroids. Campbell was heavily involved with the 1990s upgrading of the Arecibo telescope served as Associate Director of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center which managed the Arecibo Observatory for Cornell and the National Science Foundation from 1993 to 2003 and as its Director from 2008 to 2011. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Astronomical Society and the American Geophysical Union. He was a Vice-President of the AAS from 1992 to 1995.