Each year, Mail Archive colleagues Jeff Breidenbach and JeffMarshall take time from their busy schedules to seek out a few causes worthy ofsupport. Throughout the years, the team has followed the business practicepioneered by Ben & Jerry?s, which includes donating a fixed percentage ofpre-tax income to a good cause. Given the uncertain economy, it?s laudable thatsmall business owners would choose to support a charitable organization.
Familiar with the SETI Institute, the colleagues perused theInstitute?s website, and the Adopt aScientist program captured their attention. After reading through the listof fascinating scientists participating in the program, Jeff Breidenbach choseto ?adopt? Dr. Franck Marchis.? Jeff?s personal interests are in perfectalignment with Marchis? work, and he says, ?Franck had the coolest project!?
According to Jeff, ?Adaptive optics sounded like great fun.Franck gets to play with lasers and motors and electronics and signalprocessing, and in the end -- hopefully -- sees things nobody else in the worldhas ever seen. The scale of astronomy blows me away. Franck explained to me thatit is common to make an observation, and then wait half a year so that theearth is in a different location and measure again to see things from aslightly different orientation. He thinks about and works with these things ona daily basis. What's the grandest thing you thought about today? For me, itwas probably pondering the weather.?
Jeff jokes that theprogram made him feel like a patron from the Middle Ages supporting aclassical composer, ?which was fun!? He adds, ?I'm glad we live in a world withhopes and dreams; and in that respect, the SETI Institute is one of the mostinspiring organizations in the world.?
Another highlight of the expedition was the time spent withFranck and his colleague and ?resident astronomer,? Olivier Lai. Jeffparticularly enjoyed learning about Olivier's in-progress giant interferometerproject called O?HANA, which means ?family? in Hawaiian and will eventually gatherand combine light from all seven observatories on Mauna Kea. Jeff says he madeholograms in college and people had to hold their breath for nearly 30 secondsso no vibrations disturbed the light. He adds, ?Everything has to be stable --ideally to well under a quarter wavelength of light. Olivier?s system hasrequirements, but there are moving motors involved. And not little submicronmovements; we're talking multiple feet over a 30-minute exposure! I was blownaway by the sheer audacity. How could one even think to try such a thing? Andthis multi-year, cutting edge project is in progress, right there in front ofme, with this very scientist. It felt like stepping into another very excitingworld.?
Jeff?s impression of the Institute and the Adopt a Scientistprogram has been very positive. ?A lot of places we donate to act like a blackhole; you don't hear anything back and hopefully the money goes to somethinguseful,? says Jeff. ?As far as I'm concerned that's fine, assuming the moneyactually does go to something useful. The SETI Institute, however, goes out of itsway to engage supporters. I'm supremely appreciative, honored, and enriched bymy interaction with Franck and I can't thank him enough for generously sharingsome of his time. I'm very proud and happy to help support such work.?
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