Astronomy News
Kathleen Robertson
roberts@ifa.hawaii.edu
Jessica Moy
jmoy@noao.edu
LISA V
The Library and Information Services in Astronomy (LISA) V conference will be held in Cambridge, MA, June 18-21, 2006, hosted by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries. The abstract submission deadline (for those who would like present at the conference) was September 30, 2005. As of this newsletter, decisions have not been announced, but the Scientific Organizing Committee reports that it was pleased to receive a high number of submissions. For more information on the LISA V conference, see the official website at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/library/lisa/index.html
Friends of LISA V (FOL V)
The Friends of LISA V Committee put out a call for applications from librarians in developing and resource-poor countries who wish to attend LISA V, but are unable to receive full assistance from their institution. Funds to assist with housing, per diems, registration fees and in some cases, travel, will be available. All of the money FOL raises comes from publisher, institution, and individual donations, and every bit makes a difference-- funds raised by FOL for LISA IV, for example, allowed 29 librarians from 13 countries to attend the meeting!
The deadline for the return of applications is December 1, 2005 and decisions will be announced by December 15, 2005. For more information, see the Friends of LISA V website at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/library/lisa/lisa5_fol5_web.html
To help Friends of LISA V by making a personal contribution (and have your name appear in conference materials and on the LISA V Web page) send a check, payable to Friends of LISA, to Ellen N. Bouton, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Rd., Charlottesville VA 22903-2475 USA.
IAU Announces Changes
At the end of August, IAU Assistant General Secretary Karel A. van der Hucht announced changes regarding IAU meetings, saying, in part:
"The IAU Executive Committee, in its meeting of 18-20 April 2005, and in consultation with the IAU Division Presidents, has decided
to upgrade the IAU Colloquium series to IAU Symposium status, and to simplify the IAU meeting proposal procedure. This implies that the IAU Colloquium series will stop at No. 200."
Full details of the new meeting proposal procedure can be viewed on the IAU website at http://www.iau.org/IAU/Activities/meetings/deadline.html
In Memoriam - Dr. Richard B. Dunn
The National Solar Observatory (NSO) mourns the loss of Richard B. Dunn, 77, who died September 28, 2005, in Las Cruces, NM. Dunn is remembered for developing several advanced optical solar telescopes. His landmark contribution was the design and development of the 108-meter-tall (356-foot) Vacuum Tower Telescope. When put into service in October 1969 by the U.S. Air Force, the telescope revolutionized the capabilities of solar telescopes. Dunn received the George Ellery Hale Prize from the Solar Physics Division of the AAS in 1998, "For his bold and imaginative innovation of instrumentation for solar physics, his discovery of important new phenomena on the Sun, and the impact of his contributions on solar physicists worldwide."
