Prize Officially on AAS Austin Schedule

The award ceremony is set!

The award will be accepted by Charles Francis, co-founder of the Kameny Papers Project.

Memorial Service on Tuesday

There is a memorial service for Dr. Kameny on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 4:30 in Room 345 of the Cannon House Office Building, next to the US Capitol.  Announcement in the Blade here.

AAVSO Obituary

The latest newsletter (October 2011, No. 50) of the American Association of Variable Star Observers features an obituary for Dr. Kameny.  It also reveals that the light curves from Dr. Kameny's thesis have been digitized and incorporated into the AAVSO International Database.

Some memories of Dr. Kameny

Memories of Frank Kameny from Ken Phillips (kennethjhphillips@yahoo.com), University College London:

I first met Frank Kameny when I was still a PhD student, in 1971, on my first visit to the US, and just about to embark on a project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the OAO-C spacecraft, later to become Copernicus on its launch. My group at University College London (Mullard Space Science Lab) had a small X-ray telescope on board. I was given Dr Kameny's name by Antony Grey, who was a gay activist in London, as a contact. With much nervousness and from a public phone at GSFC, I telephoned Dr Kameny on my arrival in the DC area. He suggested we meet up in DC, which we subsequently did, at a restaurant in a huge bar that I think was then called Grand Central, in a derelict area of SE Washington. On the way there, in Frank's car, and just a few sentences into our first conversation, Frank asked me about my background and reason for visiting the US,and when I did so, he revealed that he like me had been an astronomer, working on photometry of RV Tauri variable stars. He asked me about my work as a solar and X-ray astrophysicist, which I told him. All this amazed me, I hardly realized that there could be other gay scientists like myself let alone someone working in almost my identical field. Even more curiously, I was always interested in variable stars myself, as an enthusiastic amateur in my teens, and had read about RV Tauri stars from a 1954 book by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchin which I still have on my bookshelves. I understand Frank's thesis adviser was Dr Payne-Gaposchkin at Harvard.

I met Frank on and off a number of times during a postdoc I had, also at Goddard, between 1972 and 1975. As I remember, he was a supporter of a DC-area gay/lesbian scientist group which I attended a couple of times. Despite his atheism, he once came to the DC branch of the Metropolitan Community Church in the early 1980s, and gave a stirring account of his early years of activism. He was introduced by Larry Uhrig, the MCC pastor, as the "Oldest Known Homosexual" which he laughingly appreciated. I got my friend Jeannie Johnson to take a photo of Frank and me on this occasion. I last saw him at a book reading by Larry Kramer at DC's Lambda Rising bookstore in 2004. There was at one stage almost an altercation between Larry Kramer and Frank about some issue which I forget, then someone identified Frank to Larry Kramer who was amazed that his opponent was in fact an old-time friend. They ended up in each other's arms in an amiable embrace. I'm not sure, but I'll bet this emotional moment was written up in the Washington "Blade" or one of the other local GLBT newspapers at the time. Frank then seemed to be in fine fettle still. I was living in DC at the time when on a NASA senior fellowship, also at Goddard.

As Americans are wont to say, they broke the mould when Frank died, there will never again be his like. His incredible bravery in the early years of gay activism, against a background of ultra-conservative McCarthyism and its aftermath, was and always will be an inspiration to me and I'm sure the many others Frank came into contact with. May he rest in peace.

Interesting details of Dr. Kameny's career

If anyone has any personal memories of Dr. Kameny, please post them or send them along.

"Doc" Kinne's website here has some interesting tidbits about Dr. Kameny's life:

Dr. Kameny's thesis had been A Photoelectric Study of Some RV Tauri and Yellow Semiregular Variables. "Why RV Tauri stars," I'd asked.

"Well, like any graduate student to wants to get a Ph.D. you have to find a thesis topic. My advisor, Dr. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, suggested it. I didn't know anything about RV Tauri stars at the time so I educated myself about them, took the data, and wrote the thesis." Dr. Kameny said is largest regret is that after the thesis has been written Harvard University allocated the sum of $200 to have a paper written, to be published in the ApJ, based on the thesis results. This never got done.

In taking his Ph.D. at Harvard in the 1950s Frank has strong memories working with the giants of the field - Harlow Shapley, and Bart Bok specifically, as well as Dr. Payne-Gaposchkin. He also remembers Margaret Mayall working in the Harvard Observatory at the time along with Dr. Dorrit Hoffleit. Frank's memory, as he told me, was for numbers, not people, but after 50 years he definitely had a memory of working with these folks.

Success!

It comes sadly just a few days too late for Dr. Kameny to hear the news, but the AAS Executive Council has just unanimously decided to recognize Dr. Kameny at the AAS Austin meting. 

Thank you to everyone who wrote in letters of nomination.  They certainly helped convince the Council that this action had broad support across the AAS membership.

Articles about Dr. Kameny

• Present at the Creation, slate.com
• Frank Kameny, pioneering gay activist, dies at 86, Wall Street Journal
• Franklin Kameny, Gay Rights Pioneer, Dies at 86, New York Times
• Frank Kameny, a pioneer for gay rights on many fronts, Washington Post Op-Ed
• Frank Kameny, leading gay rights activist, dies at 86, Washington Post
• Longtime Gay Activist Frank Kameny Dies, Washington Blade
• Frank Kameny Dies at 86, Metro Weekly
• The Pioneer, Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast
• Full coverage at the Washington Blade, including this nugget:

At the conclusion of the war, Kameny returned to Queens College after being discharged from the Army in 1946. He completed his undergraduate work less than two years later and began his studies at Harvard. While there, he taught astronomy at Yale University and later traveled to Arizona and Northern Island, where he conducted research in astronomy at internationally acclaimed observatories. After receiving his PhD. at Harvard in 1956, he began teaching astronomy at Georgetown University.

In 1957, he left Georgetown after being recruited by the government to take a job as an astronomer with the Army Map Service in Washington. The nation’s race against the Russians for superiority in space had just begun in full force. Kameny had set his sights, among other things, on a possible role in the U.S. space program. A short time later, Congress created the National Aeronautics & Space Administration. Kameny has said he would have seriously considered applying to become an astronaut. But that was not to come about.

...His longtime friend and fellow activist, Craig Howell, has said that had it not been for the government’s discovery of his sexual orientation, Kameny would likely have become one of the world’s eminent astronomers.

Prize Update

Sadly Frank Kameny died on Tuesday night (National Coming Out Day,
ironically enough). The Wall Street Journal has a particularly good
article on him.

Tomorrow (Friday) the AAS Executive Committee is considering language
for a formal recognition at Austin. The language proposed by the LGBT
subcommittee has been altered slightly by the LGBT working group to
change the language to the past tense.

Our plan is to continue to push for recognition in Austin, and simply make the
recognition posthumous. It is possible that we could ask his sister
(apparently his only survivor) to accept the award, if she would be
willing, but this is just an idea.

There is still an active push for a "Contributions to Society" type
award, but it will take a while to get established. Once established,
Dr. Kameny probably will not be able to win it posthumously, but given
the impetus I think we have a strong argument to name it after him.
Strategically, I think having a formal recognition in Austin will add
to the existing precedent of the AAS acknowledging non-astronomy contributions,
which will help overcome some philosophical objections to the award.

The minor downside to this approach is that the motivation for an
Austin award was to get recognition in quickly due to Dr. Kameny's
advanced age, with the understanding that the recognition would not be
seen as a substitute for a future award. That motivation now has been
mitigated somewhat, but since he is now presumably ineligible for a
later award anyway we are proceeding with the recognition.

Very sad news...

Dr. Kameny passed away yesterday.

Official action

The latest AAS newsletter officially reports that the Council:

32. Approved the establishment of an ad hoc
committee to explore the creation of a new AAS
prize for an astronomer who made a significant
contribution to society at large, not just astronomy

33. Approved establishing an LGBT WG [Working Group, presumably]

The wheels are turning. Thanks to all who submitted endorsements!

Progress!

I have just learned that a AAS subcommittee and the AAS LGBTQ liaison have forwarded a proposal to the Executive Council to honor Dr. Kameny at the Austin meeting in January. This proposal will be taken up this fall (October I think), and the prospects for passage appear very good. The form of the honor is not clear, but will probably be an ad hoc special recognition.

Regarding a named prize, the gears of the bureaucracy move slowly, but they are definitely moving. A subcommittee has been formed to consider creating a new formal prize, with parameters like eligibility and frequency to be determined, that would be suitable for cases like Dr. Kameny's: astronomers who do noteworthy work outside the field. It takes time for this to happen, and if even if it happens quickly there will have to be a formal, proper fundraising effort, which will take even more time (even with our head start). If such a prize is eventually instituted, it is reasonable to assume that it would be named for someone, and that person could be Dr. Kameny, in principle. It is also reasonable to assume that Dr. Kameny would be a natural recipient for this prize.

I have been told that the committee does not want to wait for this deliberate process to conclude before recognizing Dr. Kameny, thus the proposal for a special award in Austin. I was told that the intention of this award is not as a replacement for a later honor, which is still being seriously considered, but will take a while.

My personal take on this is that things are moving as quickly and as well as could be hoped for. This is all very good news!

AAS Boston update

Mixed news from Council regarding the establishment of a new prize, but the bottom line is that there is support for giving Dr. Kameny some sort of award. Stay tuned.

Spring Deadline Closed

The deadline for submission of cosponsorships to the AAS Council in time for the Summer 2011 meeting has closed. You can still help by pledging toward endowing the prize and at Buy Frank a Drink.

Welcome to the Kameny Prize Website

Dr. Frank Kameny is a "Founding Father" of the gay rights movement and, not coincidentally, an astronomer. This page is the Web presence of the effort to have the American Astronomical Society award a prize to Dr. Kameny for his lifelong efforts to achieve equality for GLBT Americans.

The AAS currently has no formal mechanism for recognizing astronomers for praiseworthy accomplishments outside of the context of astronomy. This nomination would establish such a prize, to be awarded occasionally, and name it after its exemplar and first recipient, Franklin Edward Kameny.

Our goal is to have the Council approve the new prize when it meets before the May 2011 Boston meeting. The final deadline for full members to submit cosponsorships is May 1, 2011.

You can learn more about Dr. Kameny in the nomination letter or from the biographical information pages.

You can learn how you can help on the "How you can help" page.

You can further support the effort through our Facebook page.

Post a comment here to describe your contribution to the effort, and thanks for your support!