Friends and collegues messages of Dr. Woodman - Radio ...

In honor of Dr. Ronald Woodman50 years of scientificcontributions at IGP andthe internationalatmospheric andionospheric community.

Anecdotes and regards“Here’s a short recollection of one of RonWoodman’s activities when he first arrived atJRO (after receiving his PhD):By Ben BalsleyCooperative Institute for Research inEnvironmental Science (CIRES)Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Colorado at BoulderRon’s first task was to learn the intricacies ofthe (then) new PB250 digital computer thathad arrived somewhat before he did at JRO.Ron went into his office for a number oddays, finally emerging with a program thatwould use all the PB250’s I/O, and woulddemonstrate the system to a visitor.Remember that, in those early days, theinput (and bootstrap program) wasaccomplished using Mylar punch tape into atape reader. One of the PB outputs was viathe IBM typewriter. Ron’s program went likethis:

Anecdotes and regardsLoad bootstrap1. Load RW’s program tape2. Wait3. After a few seconds, the PB250would communicate via the typewriter:…..’Good Morning, Ron”…..4. Ron would then type in: ‘Morning PB.Hope you are fine. By the way I have afriend with me”…. carriage return (C/R).5. Wait a few seconds…6. PB250 “Glad you brought a friend,Ron. What is his/her name?”7. RW: ‘His name is Alfredo ….C/R8. PB250: ‘Hi Alfredo, glad to meetyou……Do you have a question for meto answer?’…..9. Alfredo (after thinking of a really hardquestion, like: what is the round trip timefrom the earth to the sun at the speed oflight?), types in his question…….C/R10. PB250: ………….(making ‘busy’ noiseson the keyboard, like shifting)………..more‘busy’ noises……..many seconds go by.then:11. PB250: ‘You know, Alfredo,…..as it turnsout, I’m pretty busy right now…..could youcome back later, maybe with a differentquestion?’12. RW: ‘Fine, PB, we’ll come backlater…..Bye bye’…..C/R13. PB250: ‘OK, then….later. ByeRon….Bye Alfredo’14. PB250: Clicks OFF

Anecdotes and regards“This picture show: Ron Woodman, Bela Fejer, DonFarley, and Ben Balsley, standing on the JRO bridgeduring a day when there is a pretty strong Huaycoflowing. The picture was taken in the late 1970s. Itshows the four of us when we were a lot younger,pretty early in our careers, and when we all had moreand darker hair!.We all prospered, in no small part because of ourstarts in Peru. And we are all still healthy and prettyactive in our 70s (for 3 of us), and Bela is probably inhis 60s now.My best wishes to Ron and all who are at theceremonies. It would be fun to be there.”Some young guys at that same bridge in thelate 1970sBy Donald FarleySchool of Electrical andComputer EngineeringCornell University

Anecdotes and regards“I first met Ron in January 1972 when,as a graduate student, I arrived at theLima airport and there he was waitingfor me. From that time on, we have hada large number of productive scientificdiscussions and pleasant socialinteractions. One of the mostmemorable ones occurred in the early1980's during a car trip from Toronto toIthaca when Ron royally entertained mywife Fran, Don Farley and me for about4 hours with many stories of hisforgetfulness.Congratulations Ron on your great 50years as member of the IGP”.By Bela FejerUtha State UniversityDeparment of Physics

Anecdotes and regards“Ron might get a kickout of this photo fromJapan in 1989. I hadjust started my postdoctoralat RASCand Ron was avisiting scientist.The photo was takenseconds before hethrew me out of theSumo ring!”By Robert PalmerAtmospheric RadarResearch CenterUniversity of Oklahoma

Anecdotes and regards“...generaciones de jovenes científicos peruanos que ahora están dejando su marca portodo el mundo.Yo conocí a Ron Woodman cuando regresé de la UNI —hace ya más de 35 años — y élme contrató para trabajar en el ROJ...”Yo recuerdo mis años en Jicamarca como uno de los más intensos, donde bajo la direcciónde Ron, absorbí muchisímo conocimiento práctico en diseño digital electrónico y enprogramación. Años después el también fue mi jefe en el Observatorio de Arecibo en PuertoRico, esta vez trabajando más en ciencia de ionosfera. A Ron también le debo el haber sidoaceptado en la Universidad de Cornell para seguir mis estudios de post-grado, y a él le debomucho de mis logros como ingeniero y cientifico a comienzos de mi carrera profesional. Eltiempo me ha llevado por otras rutas de cienca e ingeniería, lejos de la ionósfera, pero yosiempre he mantenido a Ron Woodman en mi mente y corazón, como un ejemplo dededicación, de creatividad, y fundamentalmente como un ejemplo de como un buen serhumano debe llevar su vida”.

Anecdotes and regards“It is a great pleasure to me to learn that you are facilitatingRon on his completing 50 tears of association wit IGP.By Ramgopal RastogiIndian National ScienceAcademy,Physical Research LaboratoryI have a very happy memories of Ron during my visit toPeru and during meeting him in International meetings. Ihad visited Peru first time during first ISEA 1962 and laterduring URSI General meetings. I came to know of himduring my second meeting . By that time my group hadcollected six years hourly ionospheric E and F region driftsat Thumba and I wanted to confirm our results with theJicamarca Doppler drifts. .Ron offered me all the facilities ofhis institute to examine the Jicamarca and Huancayo data. Istayed in Peru for more than three months and Ronextended me all the hospitalities and facilities. This hadbeen very useful and rewarding period for me when I...”

Anecdotes and regards“...togeter with him could identified some interesting phenomena in equatorialionosphere which I could not have detected from my own observations in India.We could confirm the relationship between the Equatorial Counter Electrojet and Westwardelectric field. We could identify that the reversal of vertical F region drift to upward directionat Jicamarca at any time of the night followed by the generation of Equatorial spread F atHuancayo. I could find that a sudden northward turning of the Interplanetary Magnetic Fieldwas associated with the reversal of the ionospheric electric field at Jicamarca. He lateradvised me to study the major magnetic storm in relation to Jicamarca drifts and I couldshow that some of the major effects of storms at Equatorial station are due to electric field ofsolar origin. Thus Ron had changed my whole field activities leading to my present dayinterest on the Solar Weather Disturbance and Equatorial Electrojet.I wish him a continued active ,happy and healthy and contended life”.

Anecdotes and regards“Stopping on the highway with Ronhappened during my visit in February,2006, when I spent the weekend withhim and Gladys in Paracas, and wedrove together back to Lima. We werepeering at the roads, speculating abouthow much rain might have fallen andhow saturated the sand might be, andRon decided abruptly to answer thequestion by taking data”.By Jim LaBelleSpace Physics DeparmentDartmouth College

Anecdotes and regards“Although I am very proud of myself fortaking last moment decisions, and I'dexactly like to do that to join thecelebrations of Ron's 50th year ofscience by booking a flight this morningand fly out tomorrow morning, I amunable to do that simply because of theblue and red map attached below. Lookat South America. All the blue countriesdon't require visa from Turks. But thered ones do. So, congratulations andthanks Ron for all your contributions toscience and our efforts to understandNature”.By Erhan KudekiDepartment of Electrical and ComputerEngineeringUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Memorable SnapshotsRonald Woodman at SOUSY 1978Picture sent by Jurgen Rotteger

Memorable SnapshotsDr. Ronald Woodman next to ?,Picture sent by Jurgen Rotteger

Memorable SnapshotsWorkshop on Coherent Radars for Investigations of the Lower and MiddleAtmosphereMPI Lindau, Germany14 – 16 August 1978Picture got from Jurgen Rotteger

Memorable SnapshotsEISCAT Meeting, 1982Picture got from Annual EISCAT Report, 1982

Memorable SnapshotsEISCAT Svalbard Radar on 22 August 1996Dr. Ronald Woodman talking to Prof. Willian Gordon and his wife ElvaPicture got from EISCAT Annual Report 1996-97

His experimentsJicamarca Radar Power ProfileMeasurement of echo powerPictures got from Jurgen Rotteger

MiscellaneousExcursion at Islilla with UDEP students, 1990

Miscellaneous4x4 Comptetition, TATT, 2004

In honor of Dr. Ronald WoodmanCongratulations!Picture got from Automas publicacion, Nº133