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Astronomy
Who is Professor John J. Wakefield?
My undergraduate university was Illinois Institute of Technology where I
earned a B.S. Chemical Engineering in 1975, My MBA was earned while
attending Dominican University in Chicago, in 1985. I received my M.S
in Applied Space Physics from University of Houston Clear Lake in 1996.
My love for astronomy began in the early 60's watching re-runs of Flash
Gordon and wondering "what if?" Like my outstanding colleague Dr. Aaron
Cleavenson, I also took an intro to astronomy course as part of my
undergraduate physics courses and got hooked. I was most interested in
General Relativity and Einstein's brilliant career. I realized though
that it was too late for a career in astronomy and my fiancee did not
relish the thought of sitting on a mountain top with me for the next 50
years looking at stars. So I became a chemical engineer in the oil
business.
In 1992, my youngest son was born and I wondered how I would ever
retire. I had always hoped to teach, and since Astronomy was my
passion, so better to try and do something I love so I'd better get
trained. UHCL offered a practical masters program in Space Physics. My
professors were almost all from the NASA space center. Along with a
very rigorous mathematical grounding in the science, they also offered
the practical application of astrodynamics, hamiltonial mechanics,
perturbation methods, relativistic effects, and other learned
techniques. One of my favorite courses dealt with the real world
effects of "space debris" and the techologies employed on the ISS and
other space exploratory missions.
I live in Kingwood, with my wife, Nancy of 32 years, and we are blessed
with three children. I enjoy golf and basketball, and of course, space
physics, observation as well as the theory. It is my goal that all my
students will be able to gaze in the night sky and discover "old
friends" each and every night.
Last updated: September 9, 2008
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Professor John J. Wakefield, Instructor
Stellar Astronomy (PHYS 1403)
| Office: |
B-200P |
| email: |
johnw@tauberoil.com |
| WWW: |
mcastronomy.nhmccd.cc/Wakefield.html |
| Semester: |
Fall, 2008 |
| Class Time: |
M-W, 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm |
| Location |
B-203 |
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