Academy Professor Richard Conn Henry

You can Join the Calendar Reform Movement!

ALOHA! Here's the pdf handout (with clickable links to references!)
for Dick Henry's 2012 June 18 Hawaii paper.

      "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made."       — Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra"

Précis:     Dick Henry joined the JHU Physics Department's faculty in 1968 as its first astronomer ever (the world-renowned astronomer Simon Newcomb [1835 - 1909] — the only previous JHU astronomer — was in the Math Department). As Deputy Director of NASA's Astrophysics Division (1976 -1978), Dick strongly supported his Astronomy Chief, Nancy Roman, in convincing Noel Hinners to require a contest for the hosting of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), instead of simply putting it at Princeton. After Dick's return to JHU, Bill Fastie and Arthur Davidsen (a young astronomer hired with Dick's strongest support) succeeded in landing the STScI on our own Homewood Campus. The result, today, is that there are now surely more astronomers working on the Homewood campus than there are scholars in any other field; and JHU itself, to everyone's astonishment, has become a world leader in Dick's field! But, you ain't seen nothing yet!   (Here's Dick's vitae   [short version]   [long version]     and, some publication pdf's)

Dick Henry is President of The Henry Foundation, Inc.,
which sponsors improved worldwide understanding of physics (see many bullets, below).

Just as with YOU, perhaps, Time Magazine identifies Richard Conn Henry (implictly only; and among many, many others !) as "2006 Person of the Year," honoring Dick's creation of his Family Tree web site.

Dick is also President of The Streit Council for a Union of Democracies.      

Richard Conn Henry is an Academy Professor in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University,
where he is also Research Professor in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics & Astronomy, and is also

Director, Maryland Space Grant Consortium


, a member of the Principal Professional Staff, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; and a member of the JHU Center for Astrophysical Sciences. Since 1991, Dick has also served as Director, Maryland Space Grant Consortium Observatory, which is located atop the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, and which houses the Morris W. Offit telescope, a fine half-meter reflector. From 1998 until July 2000, Dick Henry was Chair of the National Council of Space Grant Directors, and, from its creation in 1991 until 2006 December 31, he served as Board Member and Treasurer of the National Space Grant Foundation. He is currently a Director of the National Space Grant Alliance, a 501(c)(4) organization. From 1976 to 1978 he was Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. He is a past Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow. He was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1940, and he became a U. S. citizen in 1973.

Dr. Henry has more than two hundred publications, on topics including theoretical astrophysics, observational astronomy, radio astronomy, ultraviolet astronomy, and x-ray astronomy. For more information, please consult Henry's cv.

Dick Henry was graduated from Ridley College in 1957, and obtained a B.Sc. (1961) at University College, University of Toronto, where he won the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Gold Medal. He obtained an M.A. in 1962, and a Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1967. Dick likes re-reading the old Nero Wolfe novels.

He has been a Research Associate at the Institute for Advanced Study, research physicist at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, and a Lecturer at the Latin American School of Space Research in Argentina. He has conducted astronomical investigations at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, and at both Las Campanas and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatories in Chile, and has participated in many rocket-astronomy experiments. Hey, so Dick is a rocket scientist. He has made observations using the Copernicus and IUE satellites and also the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mariner 9 spacecraft (at Mars), and was a co-investigator on Apollo 17 and also on the Apollo-Soyuz mission, and was a co-investigator on the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope. He was a Principal Investigator in the study of the lunar material, and he is the Principal Investigator for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Background Explorer (HUBE) , which was selected in 1996 April as a NASA MIDEX program alternate project. HUBE, in 2001, became a part of the highly-rated BEST round-three MIDEX mission. In 2003 HUBE was again proposed to NASA, this time as a SMEX candidate mission. But, sad to say, on 2003 November 4, the HUBE proposal was declined by NASA. Dick Henry has participated in eclipse expeditions to Quebec (in 1972), India (1980) and East Africa (1973 and 1980). He was a member of the group which discovered the first x-ray pulsar.

My hero is William Rowan Hamilton, who wrote the following unbelievable poem (Mathesis is the Greek goddess of science):

            THE TETRACTYS

Of high Mathesis, with her charm severe,
Of line and number, was our theme; and we
Sought to behold her unborn progeny,
And thrones reserved in Truth's celestial sphere:
While views, before attained, became more clear;
And how the One of Time, of Space the Three,
Might, in the Chain of Symbol, girdled be:
And when my eager and reverted ear
Caught some faint echoes of an ancient strain,
Some shadowy outlines of old thoughts sublime,
Gently he smiled to see, revived again,
In later age, and occidental clime,
A dimly traced Pythagorean lore,
A westward floating, mystic dream of FOUR.

four of space

"the One of Time, of Space the Three"
Can you believe that perhaps the greatest physicist who ever lived, missed Special Relativity, although he had it in his hand, under his nose?                

... this page was last updated 2013 April 5 Friday

Dick Henry ...
... hopes everyone will read Nolan Walborn's recollection of Space Telescope Science Institute history.
... wants everyone to understand GRAVITATION & DARK ENERGY.
... thanks the late Bill Fastie, for taking me to the Moon! In those innocent times, all it took was a 12 page pre-approved proposal to NASA.
Oh, and see the pictures!
... and Professor Jayant Murthy have proposed in response to "New Frontiers in Astronomy & Cosmology".
... in 2012 June attended "UV Astronomy: HST and Beyond" in Hawaii, where he presented "The Ultraviolet Diffuse Cosmic Background".
... on 2012 March 6 introduced Transatlantic Perspectives on Current Financial and Economic Developments at George Mason University.
... invites you to a Maryland Space Grant Consortium Balloon Launch in Hagerstown, MD (the file is 1.08 GB, be warned!) The movie takes six minutes to play, and has a wonderful ending!
... reviews the 1900 novel, "His Wisdom The Defender," by Simon Newcomb.
... attends JWST event at the Science Center in downtown Baltimore: picture shows Senator Mikulski, John Grunsfeld, Adam Riess...
... joins Planetarium consultant Ian McLennan in front of the full-scale James Webb Space Telescope model at Baltimore's inner harbor.
... has finally scanned a 1976 document (a small booklet), prepared by Bland Norris, that helped to sell the Hubble Space Telescope to Congress (I wrote the text material, except that Noel Hinners changed "no one is at the controls" to "only God is at the controls"):
Cover, Benefits, Astronomy, Quote, Practical, etc., Why Now?, etc., Chart 1, Chart 2, Chart 3, Chart 4, Chart 5, Chart 6, Chart 7, Chart 8, Chart 9
... thanks Mike Specian for assembling the 1975 Rowland-Wood Symposium Poster.
(Here is more, if you have a big screen.)
... with Jayant Murthy and Jay Holberg has had accepted "Voyager Observatons of the Diffuse FUV Radiation Field" as an Astrophysical Journal Supplement.
... hosted the Space Shuttle Astronauts.
... hopes to finish this essay.
... celebrates 30 years of the Space Shuttle
...reports Progress in Understanding the Diffuse UV Cosmic Background (preprint), 2012, in Multifrequency Behaviour of High Energy Cosmic Sources, F. Giovannelli & L. Sabau-Graziati (eds.), Mem. SAIt Vol. 83 n. 1 (Large versions of each figure.)
... locates OBL, with a little help from Navy Seals and the Washington Post. [See osama02, osama03, osama04 for the region]. And how did the Seals find him? It seems he's been listed as a resident of Abbottabad since 2010 September 22.
... reprints Albert Einstein's most consequential paper.
... will present "Progress in Understanding the Diffuse UV Cosmic Background," in 2011 May at Frascati Workshop 2011, Vulcano, Italy
... assists a 5th grade scientist with a Dark Matter project (the wonderful image is from http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060824.html ).
... and Jayant Murthy, are authors of "Diffuse Ultraviolet Halos around Bright Stars," in press, Astrophysical Journal.
... is author of "Union of the West Endgame: A Straw Man Constitutional Amendment," Freedom and Union, Vol IV, No.1, Fall 2010, 23.
... is, with J. Murthy and N. V. Sujatha, author of "Mapping the Diffuse Ultraviolet Sky with the GALAXY EVOLUTION EXPLORER," Astrophysical Journal, 724, 1389, 2010.
... is, with N. V. Sujatha, J. Murthy, R. Suresh, and L. Bianchi, author of "GALEX Observations of Diffuse Ultraviolet Emisson from Draco," Astrophysical Journal, 723, 1549, 2010.
... on 2010 May 4 opened "Currency Without a Country" at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
... on 2010 April 16 gave the colloquium at the Towson University Dept of Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences.
... talked on "Measurements of the UV Background with Voyager," at The View from 5 AU.
Here are pictures of Tom Kelsall and John Mather at 5 AU.
... attended today's (2009 Nov 21) Maryland Space Grant Consortium Balloon Launch to the edge of space.
... at the 2010 January AAS meeting in Washington, DC, presented: "The ISM is Aglow in UV Radiation", by Richard Conn Henry, Jayant Murthy, and N. V. Sujatha.
... on 2009 July 30 said goodbye to ... ... his 1993 Acura, at 311372.4 miles. NOT a clunker, sad to say! One says "a miss is as good as a mile," but in this case, a mile (per gallon) was as good as a miss! The steering got wonky: result, only a $200 trade in! C'est la vie, n'est ce pas?
... celebrates the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11.
... on the 12th hole, today (2009 June 23) hit a hole-in-one on the old course, St. Andrews (well, Himalayas, which abuts the old course - Richard is not a golfer ... and also, Rita won the game).
... is in Scotland for his son Mark Winston Henry's graduation (a 1st in Modern History) at St Andrews, Fife. Mark started as a resident tutor at Fettes, and is now a teacher of History at Fettes.
... gave a talk 2009 June 19 "The UV background: it's not just dust-scattered starlight" at the Department of Astrophysics , Oxford.
... has posted his 2009 Vulcano talk at astro-ph.
... (with colleagues) presented a SETI Poster at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
... notes the REAL scandal of quantum mechanics (American Journal of Physics, 77, 869, 2009 October).
... reviews the book Biocentrism (Journal of Scientific Exploration: in press).
... has written (with help from Lewis Carroll) "Alice in Physics Land," for your enjoyment.
... is, with N. V. Sujatha, Rahul Suresh, Jayant Murthy, and Luciana Bianchi, author of the GALEX Poster at the 2009 Astronomical Society of India meeting in Bangalore.
... is an author of the 2009 SETI White Paper for the National Academy Decadal Survey.
... podcasts on Earth & Sky about SETI.
... attended the 2009 Inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama.
... is interviewed by Rohit Dasgupta in The Blue Jay Buffet.
... has received an email from a former student saying "I was thinking it over a few days ago and forgot parts of your explanation as to why mass does not increase as you approach the speed of light. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind explaining it once again?" Why, it is no trouble at all!
... Chaired (on 2008 December 5) the Plenary Session "Technological Imperatives of the Transatlantic Market" at the Dupont Summit: "The New Administration Tackles Science & Technology." Here is the Session Program.
... reports good news about recently-released (Nov 19) Mathematica 7.0
... here is "GALEX Observations of Diffuse UV Radiation at High Spatial Resolution from the Sandage Nebulosity," of "GALEX Observations of Diffuse UV Radiation at High Spatial Resolution from the Sandage Nebulosity," by N. V. Sujatha, Jayant Murthy, Abhay Karnataki, Richard Conn Henry, and Luciana Bianchi, which has now appeared in the Astrophysical Journal.
... says nothing at all about "Quantum Physics Gets 'Spooky'" by Phil Berardelli
... on 2008 August 21 accepted an invition from Peter Overmann, Director of Software Techology for Wolfram Research, to become a beta tester for the next major version of Mathematica.
... has been awarded 32 hours on the Allen Telescope Array to Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. (He is Co-I on the proposal of Steve Kilston, a Senior Fellow at the Henry Foundation.)
... in 2008 June presented a poster on Teaching Special Relativity at the Third International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime in Montreal
... presented a poster at AAS St. Louis in 2008 June, "SETI in the Ecliptic Plane" At the invitation of the AAS, Dick participated in a Press Conference on his work.
... is delighted to join Steve Kilston and Seth Shostack at Astrobiology Science Conference 2008
... suggests that "Minkowski trumps Einstein"
... reviews "The God Theory" by Bernard Haisch
... congratulates Glen Fountain (THE GAZETTE, 2007 July 6)
... attended, on 2007 July 3, a Colorado Space Grant balloon launch
... has created an illustration of the famous Delayed Choice Experiment
... in this 50th anniversary year, recalls 1957 October 4, in Toronto, on Bloor Street, learning of Sputnik: little dreaming that I would become a Principal Investigator in the US Lunar Program!
... has had an email from Mathematica indicating that the problem I discovered is FIXED in 6.0
                (I'll check it out when I receive my CD with 6.0 on it....
                ...but maybe someone would like to check it out and let me know?)
2007 July 6: received CD, tried it out: the problem is NOT fixed! I have alerted Mathematica. 2008 July 11, just tried with Mathematica 6.0.3 and the problem is STILL not fixed. Shame!
2008 July 20: light at the end of the tunnel? I hope so!
2008 August 03: Still sounding good!
... trys to help you, in your pondering of the problem of the Cosmological Constant
... on May 28 reports new GALEX results at the AAS meeting in Hawaii
... and colleagues report on Dust Optical Properties in Coalsack (astro-ph 0705.1752)
... and Steve Palmquist take notice of comments and new work by
                Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger
... Advocates Universal Use of Universal Time
... attended, in 2007 January, a Conference on Ultimate Reality
... reviews "Quantum Enigma" by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner
... takes notice of "Is our Universe natural?" by Sean Carroll
... says "Hurrah for Pluto, the most important Dwarf Planet! And UP with New Horizons,
        FIRST mission EVER to a Dwarf Planet!"!
... is now celebrating the current interglacial!
... reviews "Not Even Wrong" and "The Trouble with Physics"
... has become deeply interested in stellar aberration
... reports the first fruits of his GALEX program (with Jayant Murthy, Luciana Bianchi, N. V. Sujatha, and P. Shalima) in the Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
... thanks the late Charles Schulz for penetrating insight
... has submitted to "The Physics Teacher" a modern paper on relativity
... asks if you can, with no equipment, accurately measure Earth's size in about ten seconds?
... wants you to evaluate:   i i  before you ... CLICK ME to find the answer
... published Planetary Pretzels with Owen Gingerich.
... cannot suppress the embarrassing fact that a Planetary Alignment marks the date of his birth.
... is an American Physical Society Einstein 1905 - 2005 Lecturer
          Mercy High School, Baltimore, MD, 2005 Oct 4
          Avon Grove Charter School, West Grove, PA, 2006 Feb 8
          Millersville University physics seniors, Millersville, PA, 2006 Feb 8
          SUNY/Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, 2006 Mar 27
... has discovered (and is causing to be corrected) a serious deficiency in Mathematica!
... had a great time in India ! Thank you, Professor Jayant Murthy!
... & colleagues: "FUV Scattering by Dust in Orion" (astro-ph/0601388) in press , MNRAS.
... & colleagues, had a GALEX poster at 2006 January AAS Meeting, Washington, DC.
... & colleagues, is pleased to have had another FUSE Proposal accepted.
Also: who wins time on FUSE ? (Cycles 1-7 merged, and JHU winners in red).
... 's 1993 Acura Legend has gone as far as the Moon. ( Mike Griffin ... eat your heart out ! )
... celebrates Einstein's 1905 anniversary year with E = mc2.
... visited colleagues Jayant Murthy, N. V. Sujatha, and P. Shalima ... in 2006 January. Dick stayed at the Bell Craig Guest house in St Andrews, and the Taj West End Hotel in Bangalore.
... with Luciana Bianchi, Jayant Murthy, and P. Shalima ... is pleased to have again been successful in the GALEX Guest Investigator program.
... with N. V. Sujatha, P. Shalima, and Jayant Murthy ... has published "Dust Properties in the FUV in Ophiuchus," Astrophysical Journal, 633, 257, 2005.
... has made a contribution to this Nature essay series ...
"The mental Universe," by Richard Conn Henry => here is the submitted (i.e. longer) version
"Dynamic Universe," by Freeman Dyson
"Physics, complexity and causality," by George F. R. Ellis
... with colleagues Jayant Murthy and David Sahnow, presented a paper on FUSE observations of Orion, at the 2005 January AAS meeting, in San Diego.
... thanks those who directed me to two wonderful art collections
... pays tribute to the greatest physicist who ever lived!
has become intrigued by Twistors.
wants you to understand Quantum Mechanics.
is proud of the Maryland Space Grant Consortium balloon launch of 2004 May 25 by Adeboyejo Oni, Mary Bowden, and Lisa LaCivita, aided by their assistants and students.
and his colleagues, P Shalima, Jayant Murthy, and Luciana Bianchi submitted a successful GALEX Guest Observer proposal. Here are : the GALEX team planned observations, shown with the TD1 Catalog stars; and here are: our Southern Voyager observations (red); and here are: our Northern Voyager observations (red), both shown with the GALEX team planned observatons.
has become interested in Calendar Reform, and presented a Paper on the CCC&T Calendar at the Atlanta AAS meeting.
authored the paper "Studying the diffuse ultraviolet background radiation with tomography," recently published in the journal "Astronomy & Astrophysics" (2003, volume 411, page 313) [movie]
... does rather fear heights, BUT he could not resist climbing: Arecibo!
was a speaker (with Michio Kaku and others) at the Symposium on Interstellar Travel and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena: Science Fiction or Science Fact? 2002 November 8, at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Symposium Moderator: Ray Suarez
and his colleagues presented two posters, "Voyager Observations of Diffuse Ultraviolet Light Shortward of Lyman Alpha," and "A MIDEX Mission to Spectrally Analyse the Diffuse X-ray and Ultraviolet Background," at the 2002 April AAS-HEAD/APS meeting in Albuquerque, NM
has the paper "The Local Interstellar Ultraviolet Radiation Field," in the 2002 May 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal
presented a POSTER at the 2002 January AAS meeting in Washington, DC
with Jayant Murthy, Robin Shelton, and Jay Holberg, has published in the Astrophysical Journal (Letters):"Upper Limits on OVI Emission from Voyager Observations"
has published in the Astrophysical Journal: "Kretchmann Scalar for a Kerr-Newman Black Hole"
is junior author on a paper that is in the 2000 July issue of the American Journal of Physics: "Circular Motion"
and his family visited Hawai`i in 1999 June
delivered a paper, "Meet the (National Council of) Space Grant Directors," at AAS Meeting #194, Chicago,1999, June 3
has papers "Diffuse Background Radiation," Astrophysical Journal Letters, 516, L49 (1999) and "An Analysis of 17 Years of Voyager Observations," Astrophysical Journal, 522, 904 (1999)
delivered a talk, "Tour of the Universe," to the '49ers, Johns Hopkins Alumni, on 1999 April  23. Dick was introduced by noted astronomer William Sinton
By golly, here's a view of Dick Henry's office in the Bloomberg Center: well, this WAS his office. All those journals have now been trashed!

Dick Henry has been (1997) a Keeley Visiting Fellow at Wadham College, Oxford, where his son, George W. Henry, in 2005 was awarded his M.A. in Biochemistry. George is now living in Durham, NC. Dick's younger son, Mark Winston Henry, graduated in 2009 with First Class Honours from St Andrews. The summer of 2007, Mark was an intern at The Streit Council for a Union of Democracies; the summer of 2008, Mark was an intern with the Library of Congress in Washington, DC., and since graduating, Mark has been employed first as a Resident Tutor, and now as a History teacher, at Fettes in Edinburgh.
Dick Henry is a Member, Principal Professional Staff, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
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