Papers of astronomer Elizabeth Roemer (1929-2016), specialist in astrometry of comets, asteroids, and minor planets, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Department of Planetary Science and Steward Observatory. Includes research materials, correspondence, project files, notes, clippings, ephemera and publications related to her scientific research, teaching, and extensive committee work including the University of Arizona Faculty Senate.
Collection Number:
MS 664
Language:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
Elizabeth Roemer (1929-2016), University of Arizona Professor Emerita of Astronomy and member of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory specializing in comets and asteroids is noted as the recoverer of lost comets, calculating the return of 79 periodic comets while also computing the orbits of comets and minor planets. Romer specialized in the study of "astrometry" for which she made precise measurements of the movements and positions of celestial bodies. Her observations led to numerous significant cometary discoveries. She discovered the asteroids "1930 Lucifer" (1964) and "1983 Bok" (1975) and was a co-discoverer of Themisto, one of Jupiter's moons. Elizabeth Roemer was born in Oakland, California and raised in Alameda, California, where she was valedictorian of her 1946 high school class and winner of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 with a B.A. in astronomy as a Bertha Dolbeer Scholar. While completing her graduate studies at Berkeley she taught adult extension classes in Oakland and worked as an assistant astronomer and lab technician at University of California's Lick Observatory. After earning her Ph.D. in 1955, she continued working at University of California Berkeley as an assistant astronomer and also conducted research at the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory. In 1957 Roemer became an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was there that she gained traction for rediscovering comets by using a high definition 40-inch atmospheric reflecting telescope to photograph and analyze comet nuclei. By 1965, Roemer was named acting director and had an asteroid named "1657 Roemera" (1961) in her honor. She was hired by the University of Arizona in Tucson as an Associate Professor in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in 1966 and was promoted to full professor in 1969. She headed the committee in 1972 that set up UA's Department of Planetary Sciences. Beginning in 1980, while remaining a UA professor, Pat served as an astronomer at Tucson's Steward Observatory. She retired in 1998, but continued her research on comets and asteroids. Roemer served as president and vice president of the International Astronomical Union's Commission 6 and vice president of its Commission 20. She also served as chairman of the American Astronomical Society's Division on Dynamical Astronomy. In addition to her leadership in the field, she received numerous awards for her groundbreaking work; among those were the BA Gould Prize of the National Academy of Sciences, the NASA Special Award, and the Donohoe Lectureship of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
Scope and Content Note
Research materials, correspondence, project files, notes, clippings and ephemera documenting Elizabeth Roemer's career at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, the Department of Planetary Science, and Steward Observatory from 1967 to 1998 and her professional activities and correspondence post-retirement through about 2013. Roemer's research materials relate to comet and asteroid studies and include NASA funded projects, scholarly communication, teaching materials and consultant work for the Hollywood film "Fire in the Sky". Extensive material related to professional organizations including the International Astronomical Union colloquiums and commissions. Roemer was active on many departmental committees and served on the University of Arizona Faculty Senate and the Committee of Eleven (restricted). Includes minutes, memos, notes, and research and clippings. Important correspondence with colleagues Frank K. Edmondson, Brian Marsden, Gerard Kuiper, Bart Bok, and other scientists. Incoming correspondence is often accompanied by drafts or copies of her outgoing correspondence and handwritten notes. Project files and publications relate to telescopes and observing including historical material on the Bailey and Schmidt telescopes with some documents by astronomer Edwin Francis Carpenter. Includes some files on the Mount Graham Observatory construction controversy. Also included is extensive materials related to pay equity for women in the 1970s and 1980s and includes her efforts to combat inequalities including: contracts signed under protest, correspondence with administrators, departmental salary graphs, and research. Also contains a set of articles, off-prints and books inscribed to Roemer by the authors.
Organization
This collection is organized into 5 series.
Series I: Correspondence, 1954-2010
Series II: Research and Projects, 1910-2003
Series III: University of Arizona, 1967-2007
Subseries 1: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Department of Planetary Sciences, Steward Observatory, 1967-2007
Subseries 2: Faculty Senate and Other University Committees, 1969-1993
Subseries 3: Committee of Eleven, 1980-1992
Series IV: Professional Organizations and Conferences, 1942-2013
Subseries 1: International Astronomical Union, 1964-2005
Subseries 2: Other Professional Organizations and Conferences, 1942-2013
Series V: Biographical Materials, Ephemera and Publications, 1952-2010
Series III, Subseries 3: Committee of Eleven is restricted. Please contact Special Collections for more information.
Copyright
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from theowner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Access Terms
Corporate Name(s)
International Astronomical Union.
Steward Observatory
University of Arizona –- Faculty.
University of Arizona. Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
Subject(s)
Asteroids
Astronomy -- Study and teaching
University of Arizona. Committee of Eleven -- History
Professional correspondence kept in original order and loosly arranged chronologically with general correspondence in the first three folders. Includes email. Some outgoing correspondence drafts and copies.
box
folder
1
1
Correspondence, notes, 1973-2013
1
2
Correspondence, notes, 1984-1986
1
3
Correspondence, notes, 1986-1989
1
4
Eugene Rabe, Cincinnati Observatory, 1954-1964
1
5
Adriaan Blaauw, 2 photographs YF 42B, 1956-1960
1
6
Ludwig Biermann, Max-Planck, 1956-1978
1
7
P. Swings, Belgium, 1957-1975
1
8
William Miller, 1958-1962
1
9
Alan McClure, photographs (comets and one of McClure with telescope), 1958-1962
1
10
Samuel Herrick, UCLA Astronomy, 1960-1974
1
11
A. Poveda, UNAM (Mexico), publication, 1965-1967
1
12
Bart Bok, obituary, memorials, correspondence with Roemer and Kuiper, establishment of Division of Planetary Science, report on operation Cerro Tololo, clippings, 1966-1984
1
13
Herman U. Schmidt, Max-Planck, 1970
1
14
Giuseppe Colombo, visiting lectures, University of Padova, 1973
1
15
Dinah Moche, editorial on Roemer and women in Science, 1973-1974
1
16
Ray Edwards, notes, comic, 1985
1
17
Brian Marsden, 1989-1999
1
18
Brian Marsden, rememberance, 2010
1
19
Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, accident, 1997
1
20
Frank K. Edmondson, sometimes via Brenda Records, 1998-2008
Research related to comets and asteroids including: publications, manuscripts, reviews, historical reports, NASA grant administration, and consultant work for movie scripts, namely "A Fire in the Sky". Includes an original typwritten copy of Roemer's PhD dissertaion. Also contains one box of index cards with bibliographic citations anotated with notes.
box
folder
1
22
Two publications by Dr. P. J. Van Rhijn, labeled GPK (Kuiper), 1923
1
23
Roemer dissertation, The System of Polaris, 1950
1
24
Bailey Telescope, finders, guides, Edwin F. Carpenter, 1954-1955
1
25
Bailey Var. star films, measurements and data, by R. R., 1954
1
26
Bailey Telescope, worm and gear, E. F. Carpenter, 1947-1954
1
27
Bailey Telescope, general design, Carpenter correspondence, photographs, 1910, 1948-1954
Correspondence, departmental memos, departmental committee work and project files related to Roemer's colleagues at the University of Arizona. Includes some teaching and curricular material, faculty and joint faculty meeting minutes and notes, and information about colloquia and lectures. Of special note is a file on the Mount Graham Observatory construction controversy and Roemer's files on the topic of pay equity.
box
folder
4
1-3
Schmidt Telescope, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, 1967-1972
4
4
Teaching: A 203 Introduction to Solar System Astronomy, 1967-1973
4
5
Teaching: G. [van Hak], syllabus, Astronomy, Leiden, 1971
Steward Observatory building extension, clippings, memos, 1984
4
23
Publications, offprints from various PTYS/LPL authors, 1960s-1980s
box
folder
5
1
Ann L. Sprague, Donald M. Hunten, publication correspondence (and others), 1988-1991
5
2-4
Mount Graham International Observatory, construction controversy, newspaper clippings, memos, 1985-1991
5
5
Martin Karpiscak, Office of Arid Lands, presentation to astronomy class about Mt. Graham, 1987
5
6
LPL history, notes, 1999-2007
5
7
LPL History Website Project, correspondence with Melissa Lambertson, 2007-2009
5
8-14
Pay equity: articles, notes, Roemer performance reviews, letters to administration, contracts signed under protest due to pay equity, department salary graphs, 1973-1990
The Committee of Eleven is a subgroup of Faculty Senators who deal with special situations and problems of interest to the University. Includes meeting minutes, Roemer's notes and articles and newspaper clippings. This subseries is restricted. Please contact Special Collections for more information.
box
folder
5A
1
Reorganization of Colleges, Liberal Arts, Earth Sciences, Fine Arts, 1980
Tenure disputes in the media (not human resources related), Arizona Research Laboratories, Advisory Committee on Biological Sciences, Closure of the Mexican-American Studies Research Center (newspaper clippings), 1982-1983
Materials related to professional organizations in which Roemer was a member, collaborator or held a leadership position in and conferences Roemer attended and organized.
Printed materials, correspondence and notes related to IAU colloquia, commissions and committees. Roemer was president and vice president of the International Astronomical Union's Commission 6 and vice president of its Commission 20.
box
folder
6
9
General Assemblies, 1979, 1982, 1997
6
10
Colloquium 12: Asteroid Colloquium, Gehrels, Tucson, 1970
6
11
Colloquium 22: Minor Planets, comets, Meteors, Nice, France, 1972
6
12
Colloquium 25: The Study of Comets, Organizing Committee, 1973-1974
6
13
Colloquium 25: Roemer review paper on Photometry, Astrometry, 1974
6
14
Colloquium 28: Planetary Satellites, correspondence with Joseph A. Burns, 1974
6
15
Colloquium 39: Relationships Between Comets, Minor Planets and Meteorites, Lyon, France, 1976
6
16
Leningrad Symposium: Motion, Evolution and Origin of Comets, 1969-1972
6
17
Commission 5: Documentation and Astronomical Data, 1991
Includes materials related to three comet conferences held in Tucson, one of which Roemer organized with Gerard Kuiper, an asteroid workshop, and work with other professional organizations including the American Astronomical Society.
box
folder
7
15
Comet Conference, Tucson, NASA sponsored, Kuiper and Roemer organizers, contains Kuiper correspondence, 1970-1972
7
16-17
Proceedings of the Tucson Comet Conference, edited by Kuiper and Roemer, 1972
