The 2009 Station Fire Threat to Mount Wilson Observatory

By Harold A. McAlister and Susan J. McAlister

The Station Fire, the largest fire in the history of Los Angeles County, threatened historic Mount Wilson Observatory from 26 August until 25 September 2009. Initial predictions were that the fire would sweep the Observatory grounds, obliterating the site where Edwin Hubble revealed a vast and expanding Universe in the 1920s. From 29 August 2009 and into February 2010, Mount Wilson Observatory Director Hal McAlister kept an on-line blog describing the effort to save the observatory by hundreds of firefighters and a core group of Mount Wilson staff. His blog documented a roller coaster ride of alternating despair and optimism during the fire crisis followed by a long aftermath of mud slides and road closures that affected Mount Wilson's operations for more than a year after the fire was started by an as yet unknown arsonist.The blog, which received more than 320,000 hits during the fire, is being published in this book as a diary with entries arranged in chronological order. A Prologue and newly revised Afterward reflect the author's perspective on the fire, the people involved and its indelible impact on the world-class science heritage site that is Mount Wilson Observatory.ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Harold A. (Hal) McAlister is Regents' Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Director Emeritus of the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) at Georgia State University. The CHARA Array, located on the grounds of Mount Wilson Observatory, is the world's highest resolution optical/near infrared interferometric telescope array. From 2002-2014, he also served as CEO of the Mount Wilson Institute and Director of MWO. Hal is the author or co-author of some 200 research publications. He received the 2007 Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for "significant observational results made possible by innovative advances in astronomical instrumentation." Hal retired in 2015 and continues writing articles and books.Susan J. McAlister is a retired English teacher and residential real estate appraiser. During Hal's tenure as the director of Mount Wilson Observatory, she managed the reservation system for public observing on the 60-inch Telescope and played a key role in the establishment of the Observatory's Cosmic Caf?. She accompanied Hal on the majority of his 200-plus trips to the mountain during that periodHal and Susan met during college in their hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee and have been married since 1972. Their daughter Merritt is a law professor at the University of Florida. They jointly received awards in 2009 and 2010 from the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference for their "efforts in saving Mount Wilson Observatory." The McAlisters live in Decatur, Georgia.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1093281022
• ISBN13: 9781093281026
• Release Date: July 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.2" x 7.5"