| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2016|10|11|1922|6|22}}
| death_place = [[Tucson, Arizona]], U.S.
| nationality = British
| other_names =
| occupation = [[Astronomer]]
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
'''Ewen Adair Whitaker''' (22 June 1922 – 11 October 2016) was a British-born astronomer known for his work in selenography and lunar cartography. Together with Gerard Kuiper, Whitaker founded the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. He co-authored multiple moon atlases, and helped NASA to select a landing site for Apollo 12 and several Surveyor and Ranger missions.
==Early life and education==
Ewen Adair Whitaker was born in London to George Whitaker, a typesetter, and Gladys Johnstone, a homemaker. Whitaker attended [[John Roan School]] in Greenwich on a scholarship.<ref name="times"/> His interest in astronomy began at age eight when he received ''[[The Children's Encyclopedia]]'' as a Christmas gift.<ref name="greenwich">{{cite web |title=Remembering Ewen A Whitaker {{!}} Royal Museums Greenwich |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/remembering-ewen-whitaker |website=www.rmg.co.uk |access-date=17 November 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
==Early career==
During World War II, Whitaker worked at [[Siemens Brothers]] as a laboratory assistant, conducting quality control for the lead sheathing of cables used in the secret [[Operation PLUTO]] (Pipeline Under The Ocean), which supplied fuel to Allied forces in France under the English Channel.<ref name="telegraph"/> This work exempted him from military service. He "mastered" spectroscopy there.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web |title=Ewen Whitaker, Who Guided NASA to the Moon, Dies at 94 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/us/ewen-whitaker-dies-nasa-moon-mapping.html |publisher=The New York Times |access-date=17 November 2024}}</ref>
In 1946, he married Beryl Horswell, whom he met through the St Mary's youth fellowship; she also worked for Siemens.<ref name="times">{{cite web |title=Obituary: Ewen Whitaker |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/ewen-whitaker-s8vgnmvwr |website=www.thetimes.com |access-date=17 November 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.is/SPdhl |archive-date=16 November 2024 |language=en |date=1 November 2016}}</ref> After he graduated with a certificate in mechanical engineering from [[Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys|Woolwich Polytechnic]], his only formal academic qualification, Whitaker joined the [[Royal Greenwich Observatory]] in 1949. Initially he worked on the UV spectra of stars, but soon switched to the lunar studies.<ref name="papers"/> He became the Director of the Lunar Section of the [[British Astronomical Association]] (BAA) and Fellow of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] (RAS).<ref name="greenwich"/>
Whitaker later recalled that he was almost the only one interested in the Moon, while others were interested in galaxies: "'That darn Moon puts a light up in the sky at night so we can’t take long exposure pictures of our faint galaxies.' ... The Moon was just a dead lump of rock that everyone knows about."<ref name=times/>
==Lunar research==
[[File:Gerard Kuiper 1964c.jpg|thumb|[[Gerard Kuiper]] with a Moon map in the background]]
In 1955, Whitaker attended an [[International Astronomical Union]] meeting in Dublin where he met [[Gerard Kuiper]]. When Kuiper requested assistance with creating a lunar atlas, Whitaker was the only one among 400 astronomers to respond.<ref name="times"/> He joined Kuiper's Lunar Project at [[Yerkes Observatory]] in Wisconsin on October 5, 1957—coincidentally a day after [[Sputnik 1]] was launched by the USSR.<ref name="greenwich"/> In 1958, he permanently moved to the US with his family. His colleague from BAA, David W. Arthur, also joined Kuiper's lab. He was particularly interested in "lunar crater typology and distribution".<ref name=baa>{{cite web |title=Apollo & the BAA Lunar Section |url=https://britastro.org/journal_contents_ite/apollo-the-baa-lunar-section |publisher=British Astronomical Association |access-date=19 November 2024}}</ref> Whitaker used 40-inch telescope of the Yerkes Observatory, 82-inch one of the [[McDonald Observatory]] to get photos for the ''Photographic Lunar Atlas'', published in 1960.<ref name="skyandtelescope">{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Charles A. |title=Remembering Ewen A. Whitaker, 1922–2016 |url=https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/remembering-ewen-whitaker-1922-2016/ |website=skyandtelescope.org |access-date=19 November 2024}}</ref>
In 1960, Whitaker moved with Kuiper to the [[University of Arizona]], where they established the [[Lunar and Planetary Laboratory]] (LPL).<ref name="NYT"/> There, he was the first to apply "the [[Zwicky technique]] of differential UV/IR photography to the moon",<ref name="greenwich"/> a technique combining ultraviolet and infrared photography to map the Moon's chemical composition, which proved valuable for selecting Apollo landing sites.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite web |title=Ewen Whitaker, mapper of the Moon – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/11/03/ewen-whitaker-mapper-of-the-moon--obituary/ |website=The Telegraph |access-date=17 November 2024 |date=3 November 2016}}</ref> He worked at the LPL until his retirement in 1987.<ref name="NYT"/> He used LPL's 61-inch telescope for the ''Consolidated Lunar Atlas'', published in 1967.<ref name="skyandtelescope"/>
Whitaker was considered to be the world's leading expert on lunar mapping and nomenclature.<ref name="papers">{{cite web |title=Ewen Whitaker papers |url=https://lib.arizona.edu/special-collections/collections/ewen-whitaker-papers |website=lib.arizona.edu |publisher=University of Arizona Libraries |access-date=19 November 2024 |language=en}}</ref> According to [[Timothy Swindle]], director of the LPL, "[Whitaker] knew more about what was where on the Moon than any previous human being in history ever had".<ref name=times/> He was a member of the [[International Astronomical Union|IAU's]] Task Group for Lunar Nomenclature.<ref name="papers"/> Together with David W. Arthur, he created a new way to name lunar features; later he created a "lettering system for designating unnamed craters". It was adopted by the IAU in 2006, together with a list of letters for nearside craters which he compiled together with L. E. Anderson in 1982.<ref name="papers"/>
[[File:Surveyor Crater, Before and After (LROC609 - M177785917 labeled thumb).png|thumb|Apollo 12 landing site. (See more on [[:commons:Category:Apollo_12_landing_site|commons]])]]
Whitaker's most notable achievement was locating the precise landing site for [[Apollo 12]]. After he found the [[Surveyor 1]] landing site with better precision then NASA, he was invited to locate [[Surveyor 3]].<ref name=snark/> By studying images from Surveyor 3 and comparing them with photographs of thousands of similar craters under the microscope, he identified two rocks near the spacecraft. This led to designation of a landing site for Apollo 12, where astronauts will be able to reach the earlier probe.<ref name="NYT"/> The mission succeeded, with astronauts landing within 600 feet of Surveyor 3.<ref name="telegraph"/> Whitaker himself described the search for Surveyor 3 as "the hunting of the snark".<ref name=snark>{{cite journal |last1=Clow |first1=David |title=“A Pinpoint on the Ocean of Storms: Finding the Target for Apollo 12” (with Ewen A. Whitaker) |journal=Quest, the History of Spaceflight Quarterly: 10:4 |date=1 January 2003 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6529975/_A_Pinpoint_on_the_Ocean_of_Storms_Finding_the_Target_for_Apollo_12_with_Ewen_A._Whitaker_ |access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref>
Whitaker also worked in landing sites selection for Ranger and Surveyor missions;<ref name="NYT"/> briefed astronauts for Apollo missions 13, 15, and 16;<ref name="telegraph"/> located impact sites for Rangers 7 and 9 and Saturn rocket stages from Apollo missions;<ref name="times"/><ref name="papers"/> and developed new systems for naming lunar features, particularly on the far side of the Moon.<ref name="NYT"/> He chose 14 farside craters to commemorate the [[Space Shuttle Challenger|''Challenger'']] and [[Space Shuttle Columbia|''Columbia'']] astronauts.<ref name=times/><ref name="papers"/>
Whitaker also calculated the orbital eccentricity and inclination of [[Miranda (moon)|Miranda]], [[Uranus]]'s fifth satellite,<ref name=times/> made possible by a simple plate-measuring method that he devised and which gave a tenfold increase in precision (from plates taken decades earlier).
==Later years==
After retiring from the University of Arizona in 1987, Whitaker remained active in lunar studies. He published ''Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature'' in 1999.<ref name="NYT"/> Among his other achievements was determining the precise dates of Galileo's lunar observations from 1609 and 1610, published in his ''[[Sidereus Nuncius]]''.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="telegraph"/>
Long after his retirement, made contributions to the history of the telescope, constructing an instrument built to a 16th-century design attributed to [[Leonard Digges (scientist)|Leonard Digges]] capable of producing magnified wide-field images.{{sfn|Whitaker|2009b}}
Whitaker collected lunar maps and had a "lifelong passion for repairing broken clocks". He also built a [[harpsichord]] in his spare time.<ref name="times"/>
He died in Tucson, Arizona, on October 11, 2016, at age 94.<ref name="NYT"/> He was predeceased by his wife Beryl in 2013 and survived by their three children: Fiona, Malcolm, and Graham.<ref name="times"/>
== Awards and recognition ==
Whitaker received multiple honors, including:
* A personal commendation from President Nixon for locating Surveyor 3<ref name=baa/>
* The Walter Goodacre Medal from the British Astronomical Association (1982)<ref>{{cite web |title=Awards |url=https://britastro.org/awards-2#:~:text=Walter%20Goodacre%20Medal%20and%20Gift,years%20since%20the%20last%20award. |publisher=British Astronomical Association |access-date=19 November 2024}}</ref>
* [[Asteroid]] 7948 was named "Whitaker" in his honor<ref>{{cite web |title=Asteroids Named in Honor of LPL Faculty, Students, and Staff {{!}} Lunar and Planetary Laboratory & Department of Planetary Sciences {{!}} The University of Arizona |url=https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/research/lpl-asteroid-names |website=www.lpl.arizona.edu |access-date=19 November 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Asteroids named after BAA members |url=https://britastro.org/section_information_/asteroids-named-after-baa-members |publisher=British Astronomical Association |access-date=19 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=7948 Whitaker (1992 HY) |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=7948 |website=ssd.jpl.nasa.gov |publisher=Small-Body Database Lookup |access-date=19 November 2024}}</ref>
* An [[honorary doctorate]] by the [[University of Arizona]] (2011)<ref name="greenwich"/>
== Selected publications ==
* {{Cite book |first1=D. W. G. |last1=Arthur |first2=E. |last2=Moore |first3=J. W. |last3=Tapscott |first4=E. A. |last4=Whitaker |editor1-first=G. P. |editor1-last=Kuiper |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1960 |title=Photographic Lunar Atlas |url=https://sic.lpl.arizona.edu/collection/photographic-lunar-atlas |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hartmann |first1=W. K. |last2=Kuiper |first2=G. P. |last3=Spradley |first3=L. H. |last4=Whitaker |first4=E. A. |title=Rectified lunar atlas - supplement number two to the photographic lunar atlas |date=1963 |url=https://sic.lpl.arizona.edu/collection/rectified-lunar-atlas |access-date=18 November 2024 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |first1=Gerard P. |last1=Kuiper |first2=Ewen A. |last2=Whitaker |first3=Robert G. |last3=Strom |first4=John W. |last4=Fountain |first5=Stephen M. |last5=Larson |date=1967 |title=Consolidated Lunar Atlas |publisher=Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona |url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/cla/ |access-date=18 November 2024}}
* {{cite report |last1=Gutschewski |first1=G. L. |last2=Kinsler |first2=D. C. |last3=Whitaker |first3=E. |title=Atlas and gazetteer of the near side of the moon |date=1971 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19720011170 |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Whitaker |first1=Ewen A. |title=Lunar color boundaries and their relationship to topographic features: A preliminary survey |journal=The moon |date=1972 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=348–355 |doi=10.1007/BF00562002 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00562002 |language=en |issn=1573-0794}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Whitaker |first1=E. A. |last2=Greenberg |first2=R. J. |title=Eccentricity and inclination of Miranda's orbit |journal=Royal Astronomical Society |date=1973 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19740045505 |access-date=18 November 2024 |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Whitaker |first1=Ewan A. |title=Galileo's Lunar Observations and the Dating of the Composition of Sidereus Nuncius |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |date=1978 |volume=9 |pages=155 |doi=10.1177/002182867800900301 |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1978JHA.....9..155W/abstract |access-date=18 November 2024 |issn=0021-8286}}
* {{cite report |last1=Andersson |first1=L. A. |last2=Whitaker |first2=E. A. |title=NASA catalogue of lunar nomenclature |date=1982 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19830003761 |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Whitaker |first1=Ewen A. |title=Lunar and Planetary Laboratory: Its Founding and Early Years |date=1985 |publisher=The University of Arizona |url=https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/about/history/lpl-founding |access-date=18 November 2024 |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Melosh |first1=H. J. |last2=Whitaker |first2=E. A. |title=Lunar crater chains |journal=Nature |date=1994 |volume=369 |issue=6483 |pages=713–714 |doi=10.1038/369713a0}}
* {{cite book |last1=Whitaker |first1=Ewen A. |title=Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-54414-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aV1i27jDYL8C&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=18 November 2024 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=Ewen A. |chapter=Representations and Maps of the Moon. The First Two Centuries. |title=Galileo. Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the Telescope |publisher=Ausstellungskatalog (Hg.: Paolo Galluzzi) |location=Florenz |date=2009a |pp=254-261}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Whitaker |first1=E. A. |title=Letter to the Editor: The Digges-Bourne telescope revisited |journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association |date=2009b |volume=119 |pages=64–65 |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009JBAA..119...64W/abstract |access-date=18 November 2024 |issn=0007-0297}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last1=Sevigny |first1=Melissa L. |title=Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to the Moon and Planets |date=25 February 2016 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-1-941451-04-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQWQCwAAQBAJ |access-date=19 November 2024 |language=en}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links==
* [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search?author=Whitaker,%20E.%20A.&q=Whitaker,%20E.%20A.&page=%7B%22from%22:0,%22size%22:25%7D Whitaker's papers in NASA's NTRS database]
* [https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/about/memoriam/whitaker Ewen Whitaker] at LPL
* [https://www.desertmoonfilm.com/ ''Desert Moon''], 2015 documentary film about the LPL
