George O. Abell
Abell made great contributions to astronomical knowledge which resulted from his work during and after the National Geographic Society - Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, especially concerning clusters of galaxies and planetary nebulae.
His teaching career extended beyond the campus of UCLA to the high school student oriented Summer Science Program, and educational television.
[1] Theodore Abell was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1890, was a Unitarian minister, and was one of the original members of the Hollywood Humanist Society.
[2] Abell enlisted in the US Army Air Corps after he graduated from high school in 1945 in the waning days of World War II.
[2] Upon leaving the Air Corps, Abell returned to Los Angeles and worked as a gas station attendant while waiting to start school at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
He also wrote the music column for Caltech's weekly newspaper, The California Tech, and worked at Griffith Observatory as a guide while an undergrad student.
[2] Abell's first professional astronomical occupation came as a Caltech grad student when he was an observer on the National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey.
Abell taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for 17 years[4] where he was known as an outstanding and brilliant teacher.
[5] Abell was a leader and teacher in the Summer Science Program for talented high school students.
[3] Project Universe was a 30 part introductory course on astronomy that featured Ed Krupp director of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
Abell and Julian Schwinger created Understanding Space and Time in 16 parts to explain in layman's terms celestial mechanics, relativity, and the large scale structure of the universe.
[3][5] In a tribute to Abell in The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Lawrence H. Aller wrote, As many astronomers do not, George recognized that the great enemy of enlightenment was not just ignorance, but the delusions and gullibility of vast masses of humanity and their willingness – nay, eagerness – to be taken in by frauds ranging from pseudoscientific claptrap (“Worlds in Collision”, the Bermuda Triangle, ancient astronauts, the Atlantis myth, etc.)
What is astonishing is the inability of many otherwise literate people to recognize the strong hold of superstition upon them and their penchant for accepting the claims of charlatans at face value.
[2] Abell's second wife, Phyllis, was a painter who studied three years at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art but did not graduate.
[2] Abell enjoyed many hobbies during his lifetime such as, softball, bowling, music concerts and grand opera (on which he was considered an authority), record collecting, and literature.
