THIS

SIDE OF

PARADISE

HAWAII HAS PRODUCED ITS SHARE OF INNOVATORS—LOOK
NO FURTHER THAN OUR NEW PRESIDENT. AS THIS GROUP
OF LEADING SCIENTISTS SHOWS, THERE’S MORE TO THE
ALOHA STATE THAN MAI TAIS AND BIG WAVES
Photography Klaus Thymann

ASTRONOMER

DON HALL

INSTITUTE OF ASTRONOMY, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

How long have you been studying astronomy? As an undergraduate, my only interest in the stars was for celestial navigation while yachting. But due to life’s coincidences, I ended up doing a Ph.D. in Astronomy at Harvard in 1970. What big projects have you worked on I have been closely involved in both the Hubble Space Telescope and its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. My hands-on research involves development of the infrared sensor chips used to obtain images with both of these telescopes, and also with ground-based telescopes around the world. Where was this photograph taken? This image is of telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant shield volcano, at 13,796 feet—the highest point in the Pacific.

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