All Posts by Crystal M. Tinch

Craig Waff, a leading historian of astronomy, died five days after a heart attack he suffered while doing historical research in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. He suffered the heart attack just two days after successfully observing the June 5, 2012 transit of Venus from the 150-foot solar tower at Mt. Wilson Observatory.

After accepting a beginning position at the University of Illinois Department of Astronomy in 1964, I was told I would be joined by Ken Yoss, who had been hired as full professor.  By odd coincidence, I had worked for him as a beginning grad student teaching assistant in 1960 at the University of Michigan, where Ken was taking a summer break from Mt.