[ASA] Vale Peter Gillingham

[Richard McDermid]

Dear ASA,

I am very sad to share the news that Peter Gillingham passed away late last week.

Peter joined the ASA in 1980, and was a continuous member into his retirement. In addition to his dedicated membership, Peter’s contribution to the ASA community came primarily through his consistently creative and innovative approach to developing and improving the telescopes and instruments used by so many Australian and international astronomers.

Peter had a long and distinguished association with the AAO, beginning as the chief commissioning engineer of the Anglo-Australian Telescope. With the exception of a 5 year period as the Operations Director of the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, Peter worked at the AAO since its formation, as an instrument scientist, optical designer and engineer. Peter was involved in innumerable projects carried out by the AAO, both for the AAT and for international observatories throughout the world. Peter’s knowledge and experience of astronomical telescopes and instruments was exceptional, and his contributions to the AAO were fundamental to its success. In 2004, he was awarded a DSc Hons by UNSW in recognition of his contributions to astronomy, including his advocacy for Australia’s role in the Antarctic.

Many thanks to Simon Ellis and Fred Watson for their contributions to this email, including the attached images of Peter working in the Cassegrain cage of the AAT in the 70’s; and flanked by colleagues Gordon Robertson (L) and Time Bedding (R) at the 50-year AAT celebration in 2024.

If you would like to send any messages of condolence, you can do so via Rob Dean, contactable at deanr309 at gmail.com.

Best wishes,
Richard

[PastedGraphic-2.png]

----
Professor Richard McDermid
(he/him)

Director, Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO)
Director, Astrophysics and Space Technologies Research Centre
President, Astronomical Society of Australia
Macquarie University,
Sydney, Australia

T: +61 (0)2 9372 4811 / +61 (0)2 9850 4476
W: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/MRiaCJyBrGfy7NR5RTVf38tyqDwV?domain=bit.ly

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Macquarie University Land, the Wallumattagal people of the Dharug nation, whose cultures and customs have nurtured, and continue to nurture, this land since the Dreamtime.

[PastedGraphic-1.png][b6fce74e-a522-45ed-b077-a5baad0dc8a8.jpeg]

Please consider the environment before printing this email.
This message is intended for the addressee named and may
contain confidential information. If you are not the intended
recipient, please delete it and notify the sender. Views expressed
in this message are those of the individual sender, and are not
necessarily the views of Macquarie University.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/asa/attachments/20261031/8f903ba6/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PastedGraphic-2.png
Type: image/png
Size: 883421 bytes
Desc: PastedGraphic-2.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/asa/attachments/20261031/8f903ba6/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PastedGraphic-1.png
Type: image/png
Size: 7455 bytes
Desc: PastedGraphic-1.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/asa/attachments/20261031/8f903ba6/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: b6fce74e-a522-45ed-b077-a5baad0dc8a8.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4578 bytes
Desc: b6fce74e-a522-45ed-b077-a5baad0dc8a8.jpeg
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/asa/attachments/20261031/8f903ba6/attachment.jpeg>