Hi Richard,

Thank you for this.

I knew Brian quite well. From 1977-83, I lived just outside of Boston and spent many Saturdays at the Harvard College Observatory with Dan Green (and Brian) working on the International Comet Quarterly. On a number of occasions I had dinner at Brian's house back then, including a couple of Christmas dinners.. Dan Green and also Sekanina (before he moved to California to work at JPL) would also attend. There were many fascinating conversations - often while drinking sherry after dinner. I still exchange Christmas cards with Nancy Marsden, Brian's wife.

It was quite a sight watching Brian at the couple of Division of Planetary Science meetings (part of American Astronomical Society) that I attended. Unlike anyone else there, Brian was like the Queen Bee with all the drone bees (including me) buzzing around him. During one of those meetings that I attended I went out to dinner with Brian and probably 15 other astronomers for more than two hours. Did we talk astronomy? No! Lead by Brian with only a couple of people participating, the entire night was spend discussing wine! No one else was talking. It was the most boring dinner I have ever had to sit through. Oh well.

Of course, when I moved to California to work at JPL, I only saw Brian when he came to JPL a couple of times. He also came to the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference (held outside at a Boy Scout Camp outside of Big Bear, CA) in 1990, giving the keynote address. That was the year that there were many comet discoverers (David Levy, Don Machholz, Jean Mueller and several others) and comet observers (including John Bortle, Alan Hale [later the discoverer of Hale-Bopp] and others) in attendance. [Of course, Sky and Telescope only printed the picture with the discoverers. There is no glory just being an observer!] Brian, however, was always supportive of both groups.

I was told that Brian was running orbits to within a week or two of his passing. That sounds like Brian.

Charles S. Morris

ICQ Associate Editor

Dreamweaver Observatory

Fillmore, CA USA

On Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 08:50:42 AM PST, Richard Miles - rmiles. btee at btinternet. com <baa-comet@simplelists.com> wrote:

I thought it appropriate to signal that today marks 10 years since Brian

Marsden passed away, departing this Earth for orbits new having been born in

Cambridge, England on 1937 August 5.

He was awarded the Merlin Medal and Gift in 1965, and received the Walter

Goodacre Medal (the BAA's senior award) in 1979 in recognition of his

contribution to the progress of astronomy over many years.

After obtaining his Ph.D from Yale University, he was invited by Fred

Whipple (of cometary fame) to join the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1965. Professionally, he served as the

Director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) from 1968

to 1999, and became Director of the Minor Planet Center in 1978. From

2000-2003, he was president of IAU Commission 6, which oversees the

dissemination of information and the assignment of credit for astronomical

discoveries.

One claim to fame that will survive is his part in the downfall of Pluto as

a planet. He first proposed that Pluto should be assigned a number as an

asteroid (he suggested 10000) but was unsuccessful. During his term as

President of IAU Commission 6 he actively campaigned to demote Pluto and I

well remember the lively discussion at the IAU General Assembly in

Manchester in 2000 August (that I happened to gatecrash as a keen amateur).

I managed to get most of it recorded unofficially on a videocamera (bought

for the 1999 solar eclipse) whilst sitting in the lecture theatre. Patrick

Moore was also a guest of honour there, sitting on the front row. I shall

have to dig out that videotape, given it is now more than 20 years old, so

that it can be lodged in the BAA archives, and possibly made available

online. Eventually in 2006 at the IAU in Prague, Pluto officially became

dwarf planet (134340) Pluto.

Richard Miles

See:

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/2011JBAA..121...56H/0000056.000.html

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