22 May 1937- 28 January 2016
The Raleigh Astronomy Club lost a long time member and contributor on January 28, 2016. Born and raised in Erie Pennsylvania, Jerry obtained his Bachelor of Science in meteorology at Pennsylvania State University in 1959 and continued his meteorological studies earning a Master of Science degree from The University of Chicago in 1962 and a Ph. D. from Florida State University in 1971. He joined the faculty at North Carolina State University in 1972 where he worked until well after his retirement in 1999.
Service and collegiality marked Jerry’s career as a scientist and educator.
With an outgoing and generous nature, Jerry helped build the atmospheric sciences program at NCSU. Jerry Watson laid the foundation for a major part of today’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences where in that atmospheric branch alone there are fourteen faculty, over one hundred undergraduate majors, and forty graduate students. He developed and taught courses ranging across a wide spectrum from Introductory Meteorology for freshmen to Numerical Weather Prediction for graduate students. His teaching style was organized, thorough, and meticulous. He loved to teach.
Jerry was a very avid amateur astronomer, attending RAC meetings from almost the very beginning of the group and attending almost all public observing sessions for over 35 years. He also loved volunteering at every Astronomy Days event since the 1980’s to talk about telescopes with the public. He served the club in multiple capacities over the years including:
- Nine Years As a Co-Chair
- Four Years As Public Observing Committee Head
- Nineteen Years as the Morris Observatory Committee Head
For many years, Jerry would drive a round trip of over 80 miles to go operate the Morris Observatory on RACOBS observing session nights so other members could look through the 24 inch telescope. He also really loved going to astronomical gatherings including the Winter Star Party, Southern Star, Tri-Star, MASP, and recently, the Staunton River Star Party.
Jerry also supported RAC meetings with his always interesting and informative presentations. Jerry provided the program for forty-four RAC meetings over the years, including some great multi-part presentations like How Far Is It?, Stellar Magnitudes, and CCD.
Mostly, RAC members will remember Jerry not only as a great source of experience and information, but as a positive force in the club. Jerry was always in a good humor, even if he was unhappy about something and always quick to laugh at a joke or even himself (like in the image at left where Jerry where someone reported as the “Face on Mars”). He will be very sorely missed at the Raleigh Astronomy Club.
Finally here are two videos of Jerry at the Winter Star Party.
