Please join two interesting discussions on historical astronomy
Saturday, April 12, 2003
NCHALADA LXIV
Northern California Historical Astronomy
Luncheon and Discussion Association
www.nchalada.org

Morning discussion, 10 - 12:30:
T. J. J. See, Mare Island, and Navigation Instruments

Host:  Jim Kern, Curator

in the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 734 Marin Street
MAP

www.vallejomuseum.org

Lunch and a brief business meeting at a local restaurant

Afternoon discussion, 2 - 5 PM:
T. J. J. See in Context
Chair:  Carl Trost

Hosts:  Jack and Bunny Clemes, owners

in the T. J. J. See home, 614 Ohio Street, Vallejo
MAP

Please bring munchies.
For further information, contact:
Norm Sperling
EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE
413 Poinsettia Avenue

San Mateo, California 94403
650-573-7125
nsperling@california.com
www.everythingintheuniv.com

Who was the Real T. J. J. See?

People still talk about the controversial astronomer Thomas Jefferson Jackson See (1866-1962), who spent most of his career at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo.  Many people remember him personally.  Others tell tall stories.  Vallejans interested in See invite NCHALADA to his very home!

The Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum hosts our morning session.  They open at 10 AM.  The Museum includes See’s time ball and other See materials.  The curator, Jim Kern, invites participants to help identify some navigation instruments in their collection.

The owners of See’s home, Jack and Bunny Clemes (pronounced “cleMAY”), invite us there for the afternoon session.  They seek to understand See’s work in historical context.

·        Overview of his career.

·        Did he contribute anything to science?

·        Why did the Navy allow him to travel so far to pursue astronomy?

·        Where is his telescope?

·        Where is See buried?

They will let us examine their copy of See’s unpublished late-1930s book on the orbits of certain long-period comets.

The See home’s architecture is transitional Italianate/Queen Anne Victorian – 3 tall stories of gingerbread, topped by a “witch’s cap” – in Vallejo’s Historic District.  The Clemes family collects old clocks, and enjoys puns.

Participants should bring their own coffee (or whatever) for the morning session.  Our afternoon hosts will provide coffee, tea, and cold drinks.  Both the Museum and the owners of See’s home encourage participants to photograph objects of interest.

2 recent articles about See:

·        William Sheehan:  “The Tragic Case of T. J. J. See”, Mercury, November/December 2002, p. 34.

·        Thomas J. Sherrill:  “A Career of Controversy:  The Anomaly of T. J. J. See,” Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 30, part 1, no. 98 (February 1999) pp. 25-50. www.shpltd.co.uk/jha.pdf

Several crates of See archives are held by the US Navy in San Bruno.  Many crates were shipped to the Smithsonian Institution after he died.  We do not know their contents or present whereabouts.  Unfortunately, T. J. J. See was not related to Mrs. See of the chocolate company.