Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
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<strong>Tombrello</strong>–209<br />
TOMBRELLO: It’s nice that they go away. Though we have one great success who didn’t go<br />
away, and that’s Kerry Vahala [Jenkins Professor of Information Science and Technology and<br />
professor of applied physics]. Sterl Phinney, Libbrecht, Vahala were in the same class—the<br />
class of 1980 at <strong>Caltech</strong>. That was some class! That was an interesting bunch of people. We are<br />
lucky to have them back. Vahala also got his PhD here <strong>with</strong> Yariv. Libbrecht worked for Bob<br />
[Robert H.] Dicke at Princeton. Phinney went to Cambridge. It’s nice that they get away and<br />
see a bit of the world and then realize that <strong>Caltech</strong> is Heaven. They come back. It’s a great<br />
place, and our students are fantastic. But I’ve said that so many times, it’s getting tiresome.<br />
You’re beginning to see what I’m trying to say: There was a strategic framework for everything.<br />
ASPATURIAN: Within which you were establishing a number of new initiatives.<br />
TOMBRELLO: Right. The idea behind the JPL thing was to cement the relationship <strong>with</strong> JPL, but<br />
at the same time to complement some of the things on campus that we needed to complement.<br />
Didn’t hurt JPL either. That’s one of the worries for the future: Will <strong>Caltech</strong> always be able to<br />
hang on to the management contract for JPL? There have always been these threats from NASA<br />
about putting it up for bids. We’ve dodged that bullet several times. Can we continue to? JPL is<br />
very important for <strong>Caltech</strong>, because of the leverage that both sides get out of it. These joint<br />
appointments mean a great deal. We’ve done two small spacecraft projects <strong>with</strong>in the PMA<br />
Division to help JPL out. One was GALEX [Galaxy Evolution Explorer], Chris [D. Christopher]<br />
Martin’s [professor of physics] ultraviolet orbiter. Now we’re doing NuSTAR on campus for<br />
Fiona Harrison, which is an X-ray measurement project.<br />
The division’s relationship <strong>with</strong> JPL has been good—in fact, I used to have regular<br />
meetings <strong>with</strong> Elachi, because he and I were opposite numbers for a while. When he moved up<br />
to the directorship, I met <strong>with</strong> Larry Simmons [deputy director of JPL’s Space and Earth Science<br />
Programs Directorate]. When Simmons retired, it was Jakob van Zyl . It was very important to<br />
stay in step <strong>with</strong> someone <strong>with</strong> whom you had so many joint projects. It meant I had a lot of<br />
extra activities, but it also meant that I have an awful lot of opportunities <strong>with</strong> JPL. As I said,<br />
when we needed money to get the CCAT concept study started, half the money came from Jakob<br />
van Zyl and half of it came from me. I would say that since then, more money has come from<br />
JPL than has come from <strong>Caltech</strong> for CCAT, which would be a 25-meter sub-millimeter telescope<br />
http://resolver.caltech.edu/<strong>Caltech</strong>OH:OH_<strong>Tombrello</strong>_T