THE JOHANNESBURG CENTRE OF THE ASSA
(Talk given by Danie Overbeek, February 1997, to the Johannesburg Centre)
 

Like Caesar's Gaul, this talk comes in three parts:

      - Where we come from
      - Where  we  are now
      - Where we are going
 

WHERE WE COME FROM

Before starting on the history of our Centre, I must tell you of an eccentric Centre secretary who was also custodian of the Centre's archives.  He stored these in his garage, where they got wet. Instead of reporting his difficulty to the committee and obtaining help in salvaging the papers, he took it upon himself to incinerate the lot.  So, when I was asked to commemorate the Centre's fiftieth anniversary, I was obliged to wade through many old copies of the Monthly Notes of the ASSA.  The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa is the Centre's  parent body although the Centre is fully autonomous. The Centre certainly owes its existence to the ASSA and so it is essential to deal first with the ASSA's origin and growth.  Digging out Facts proved to be a pleasant stroll down memory lane for me.  The search was facilitated by a presidential address by Peter Smits, father of our member Dr Derck Smits.
 

MILESTONES: EVENTS THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE

Turn of century,  tailors shop in Beaufort West
1910    Comet Halley
1912    Cape Astronomical Association
1914    World War 1
1918    Transvaal Astronomical Asociation
1922    AS of SA
1930+   Depression and World War 2
1947    Transvaal Centre reborn
1952    Observatory Associates
1957    Space age dawns
1960    Planetarium opens
1966    Pretoria Centre hives off
1968    Antares Graze at Messina
1973    Observatory closes,  NITR moves in
1980    Launch of Canopus
1982    Relaunch of Canopus
1986    Comet Halley again
1989    NITR moves out, ASTS moves in
1994    Shoemaker-Levy impacts Jupiter

ELABORATING ON SOME OF THE MILESTONES

I shall start with the genesis of the ASSA and here I quote from an account by one R. Watson.  Watson is known as the discoverer of Nova Aquilla 1918 and for the discovery and prompt notification Nova Pictori 1925, which is now known and assiduously observed as RR Pic by some southern amateurs.  Here is Watson's story of the birth of the ASSA round the turn of the century:

Many years ago, there existed in the little town of Beaufort West, a small club.  It had neither name, subscriptions nor membership roll. Its headquarters was a tailor's shop and the president was the tailor.  There the savants of the town would meet at their own convenience and would discuss with the president and one another the whole riddle of  the Universe.  Quite a variety of interests were discussed - a train driver wanting to know the best method of boiling water and what to do in the event of a collision, farmers desirous of growing long and yet  longer wool, a plumber, a bootseller, a budding architect all desiring to hear the words of wisdom as they fell from the tailor's lips, as he sat stitching away.

A debate would open, and would last for days or even weeks.  It was there where the writer (Watson) learned something about astronomy.  The boot seller had taken the matter up and in his vast ignorance, crossed swords with the equally ignorant tailor.  Books were consulted, diagrams drawn and a small telescope acquired from somewhere.  Then Halley's comet appeared above the clubhouse and stimulated further investigation.  I listened in awe (said W) but by and by I could see starlight and butted in by explaining the precession of the equinoxes which I had read up in a book. After that I was admitted to fellowship of the club.  Mr Watson goes on to say that he was sure that this club led to the founding of the Cape Astronomical Association, which was formed by a group of Cape Town amateurs involved in Halley observations.  The amateurs roped in professionals from His Majesty's Observatory at the Cape and so eventually, the ASSA came into being.
 

1989:  NITR MOVES OUT, AS&TS MOVES IN

When the committee learnt of plans to sell the site, it wrote to the President of the CSIR pointing that the Centre has at least a moral right to continued occupation of the site, in view of the Bezuidenhout bequest.  No reply was received and as a result, one of the committee members consulted an executive in the organisation.  This gentleman reflected for a few seconds and then advised us to do nothing at all.  "Have no fear", he said in effect, "they have your interests at heart". Events did not bear this out and the Centre was left with a very tenuous hold on the site. It seems that history is about to repeat itself.  Some of you may have noticed a large Seefs "For sale or rent" sign  on Gill street. On making enquiries, I was told that the site is not really for sale. That is Africa speak.  Either the site is on the market or it is not. My guess is that it will be sold to whomever can make an attractive enough offer. We must not repeat the 1989 debacle.  I advise the committee to keep in close touch with the new ASTS President, Professor Friedel  Sellschop.  Prof Sellschopp is well known for his desire to bring science to the masses and it is possible that he will lend a sympathetic ear, especially if he perceives the Centre as a well run, business-like organisation with strong links to schools and to the public.

1994  Shoemaker Levy impacts Jupiter

This again engendered a lot of interest on the part of the public and the Centre obtained good publicity through TV interviews and coverage of the Centre's expedition to Mazelspoort to observe the event with the 60" Rockefeller telescope.  There have been further developments involving the Mazelspoort complex and I was hoping to comment on this but on reflection realise that the time for this is not ripe.
 

THE CHAIRMEN

1947   AWJ Cousins   World authority on photometry
1947   EL Johnson        Astronomer at UO
1948   AD Thackeray   Radcliffe Observatory Director
1950   AEH Bleksley    Founder of societies and great  populariser of science
1951   HC Lagerweij      Collaborator at observatories, occultations & PEP work.
1952   PC Seligman    Electronics specialist at UO
1953  P Ackerman     His hobby was societies
1956  JH Botham      Discoverer of Saturn's white spot
1957   JA Bruwer      Minor planet discoverer at UO
1958  D Overbeek     Occultation and vs observer
1959  GF Knipe        ATP. PE photometry and occultations
1960  CN Williams   Moonwatch team leader and donor
1961   JH Botham
1962  HC Lagerweij
1963  C Mollinck    Accountant, Pretoria resident
1964   CR Jacobs     Generous patron and host
1967  W Bell         Great constructor and enthusiast
1969   J Poole        Grazing occultations, negotiator
1971  F Bateman       Danjon photometer, patron of beginners
1975   D Overbeek
1976   G Pulik        Instructor  and mathematician
1978   G Marshall      Electronics  and occultations
1980   E van Zyl     Astronomy lecturer and author of note
1983   A Gray          Originating, building and restoring.  Mr Articulate
1984   B Fraser      Selfless worker and guide, occultation computing
1987   A McCrae   Occultations and variable stars
1988   B Fraser
1989   N Wakefield    Photography expert
1990   A Hilton     Occultations, computers and electronics
1991   T Budge    Planetarium, TV. Makes things happen
1995  T Gould         Geology, telescope making, innovator

MEETING VENUES

The list below puts one in mind of the Israelites' forty years in the wilderness.

Public Library
Wits Main Block
Wits Dorothy Susskind
Wits Physics Block
JCE
Shell House
ICI Building
26 Inch Dome
Planetarium
Member's house
SHB Building
 

WE ARE NOT ALONE

The Centre cannot exist in a vacuum.  In this respect we are indeed fortunate to have access to a number of distinguished institutions:

(In the viewgraph diagram, lines connected the Johannesburg Centre block with the bodies surrounding it)

ASSA                                                                        Planetarium
SAAO
Hart RAO

                                   Johannesburg Centre                        Public

 Wits
Unisa                                                                         Schools
RAU
Pretoria U
Potch U
UOFS
 

GREAT WORKS

Papadopoulos dome
van Zyl-Jacobs dome
Papadopoulos TVMPSA
Ontsluier die Heelal
Out of this World
 
WHERE WE ARE NOW

"To bask in past glories,
to contemplate present delights
and to plan future triumphs"

Let us see where the Centre stands as an independent organisation:

Here are a few points, mostly from the committee's admirable 1997 Business Plan as published in the 1996 Canopus:

The resources comprise two observatory domes but not the ground they stand on, a number of telescopes including a 6" and 7" refractor, a 12" Cassegrain and a 12" Newtonian reflector.

A comprehensive library
An aluminising plant
A membership of 109

The Centre holds monthly meetings and weekly public viewing sessions as well as dark sky observing sessions.  Interesting outings are organised. Telescope making classes are arranged annually. A "monthly" journal called Canopus is published.

Weaknesses include the fact that the Centre has no secure tenure to its facilities.  We have dealt with that already. The Centre lack funds:  One could say: Who doesn't?

Antiquated equipment:  Antiquated but perfectly serviceable.  The telescopes the Centre has are superior to any catadioptric up to 11" for occultation and planetary detail observing.  I must warn against the temptation to go for state of the art equipment.  In the 1980's the Centre made two such purchases and to the best of my knowledge the benefit of having these has been minimal.

Only 25% of membership is active:  This has to be expected.  Many members join societies in order to be entertained and one cannot fault them for that as long as they pay subscriptions.  Speaking for myself, it would please me immensely if just 5% of our membership were actively engaged in amateur astronomy as contrasted with recreational astronomy and the popularisation of astronomy, which is what the compiler of the business plan probably had in mind when he quoted the 25% active members statistic.

Low and possibly declining membership:

(Representation of a star cluster projected at this stage)

Here is a representation, not of a star cluster with a strong central condensation but the membership of our Centre as I visualise it.  The dots represent the members, you may count if there are 109.

The core of the Centre is doing very well,  thanks to the activities organised by the committee.  But outlying members, especially those who cannot take part in the core activities, need to be looked after better.  If the Centre wants to expand or even stay constant, it must cater for these members by having a regular publication.  That is why Canopus features in the events table discussed previously.  Here is something which reached me this week.  Ndaba has been coming with clocklike regularity for many years.  The Natal Midlands publication is equally good.  The Editor of Canopus should not be too ambitious. Publishing a quality periodical is a huge task.  The Centre could learn from publications like Ndaba and Stardust.  They are modest in appearance and content but they are regular.  One sometimes hears complaints from editors that they receive no support from potential contributors.  As one who has been close to cottage publications for the last 25 years, I would like to give editors this advice:  It is no use making a general appeal for material. One should buttonhole a potential contributor, fix him or her with a beady eye and say:  "That's an interesting point (or fact or whatever)  Please can you let me have half a page by lunchtime this Friday?  To demonstrate my concern, I offer this talk in serial form to the editor  for use if he can.  (The Editors never responded) To sum up, the Centre is healthy as an independent entity but it will have to involve its marginal members more fully if it wants to grow.

What about the Centre as a member of the community?

With connections like these, the Centre could become a power in the land if it were to exploit the connections fully.   We must remember, however, that the committee consists of volunteers who all have their own commitments and priorities.  One cannot expect miracles from ordinary mortals.  In this connection, you should bear in mind that if I sound carping, I freely admit that things were not necessarily better when I was in the chair or on the committee. Having said all that, I must stress that much strength can be gained from exploiting our connections.  It is up to the committee to decide how much effort could reasonably be put into an expansion programme.

One last point, in connection with guest speakers.  Such a speaker can reasonably  expect someone to propose a vote of thanks after his or her lecture.  This may well encourage a repeat performance  from your guest.  It is only necessary for the chairman to ask a member beforehand to make the proposal.  This will ensure that at least one listener will stay awake during the whole lecture.  The proposer need  not prepare a lengthy accolade or a rehash of the lecture.  The most effective vote of thanks which I ever heard, came from Peter van Laun and consisted of all of six words.  The committee could consider reviving the custom at the next lecture meeting.  ~I~ do not want thanks, Mr Chairman, I should thank you instead for giving me the chance to dwell on past glories, to contemplate present delights and to speculate on future greatness.