Zirin, Harold (Astrophysicist)

Dates

• Existence: 1929 - 2012

Biographical/Historical

Background: Director, Big Bear Solar Observatory, 1980-97; chief astronomer, Big Bear Solar Observatory, 1970-80; Caltech astronomy professor, 1964-98; Caltech visiting associate, 1963; professor emeritus, 1998-.

Biographical/Historical

Description: Harold Zirin was born in Boston, but grew up in the Bronx and in Bridgeport, CT. He entered Harvard College in 1946, where he received his AB in 1950, his AM in 1951 and his PhD in 1953 in astronomy, working with Bart Bok, Harlow Shapley, Armin Deutsch, Fred Whipple and Donald Menzel, and with Philip Morse at MIT. In 1952 he came to California to take a position briefly with the RAND Corporation. After a return to Harvard for two years, Zirin took a job in Boulder, Colorado at the High Altitude Observatory and began solar observing. Visits to Caltech led to a professorial appointment in 1964. Zirin became the director of Caltech's Big Bear Solar Observatory in 1970.

Zirin married to Mary Zirin, who taught Russian at Caltech from 1969 to 1973.

Biographical/Historical

Collection Notes: Oral history, 1998: In this 82-page oral history with Shirley K. Cohen, Zirin recounts his early life and education in astronomy; his move westward, eventually to Caltech; the story of the building of the Big Bear Solar Observatory and its eventual closure; research, academic and political issues at Caltech, including grievances against him by several women, notably S. Martin.

Found in 11 Collections and/or Records: