Gemini Telescope on Mauna Kea Named in Honor of Dr. Frederick C. Gillett

Hawaiian elder Kimo Keali'i Pihana, accepts a ceremonial pohaku (stone) from Dr. Wayne van Citters, Director of the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the National Science Foundation, during a naming ceremony of the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, November 13, 2002. Pihana, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner and Mauna Kea Ranger, honored the telescope's naming of "The Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope," by presenting Gemini Observatory a makana (Hawaiian gift). Professor Robert Joseph, Chairman of the Gemini Observatory Science Committee, stands behind Dr. van Citters, along with Dr. William Smith, President of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA). "This telescope, indeed the development of infrared astronomy on the ground and in space alike," Dr. van Citters said in his dedicatory address, "required the wayfinders, those who without maps and fixed signposts knew which direction to take. Fred Gillett was foremost among these."