This is the website of Robert Martin Ayers. It includes both the "Robert Martin Ayers Sciences Fund" and the personal webpage of the proprietor, Robert Ayers.
I, the proprietor and fund manager, graduated from Harvard in 1962 with a degree in astronomy. I went into aerospace and the then-new field of computer science -- first with General Electric's "Missiles and Space" division, later with Xerox Corp (Office Systems and PARC), Digital Equipment's "Systems Research Center", and Adobe Systems.
Retiring from Adobe in 2006, I decided to aid an area that I had been interested in for several years: the role of astronomy in education. There were two main factors:
The "National Observatory" of the United States based at Kitt Peak Arizona, originally was chartered to support the astronomy activities of the smaller colleges and universities in the United States. But, starting around 1990, they decided to join the "giant telescope" bandwagon and they poured their (taxpayer) funding into new large telescopes and shed their support for the one-meter class telescopes that had been supporting the smaller college's research and PhD programs.
Several educational organizations had discovered that astronomy could play a role in science education in the secondary schools. Teens are interested in astronomy, and space-based classroom acivities can introduce them to physics, statistics, and other related areas. These organizations include "Hands on Universe" and "Telescopes in Education". Also NASA outreach programs and, in Great Britian, the Faulkes Foundation.
The sciences fund exists to encourage astronomy and science research, especially as it relates to education.
Its current activities:
Working with Lowell Observatory to rebuild a forty-inch Boller and Chivens telescope acquired from Northwestern. This telescope will be operatable over the internet and fifteen percent of its time will be available to outside organizations and individuals for astronomical observations.Working with the PROMPT telescope consortium, based at UNC Chapel Hill, to make the consortium's four robotic telescopes in Chile available to researchers and educators. To learn more about this, visit the PROMPT website and examine the proposal form.
Individuals or groups with interests in this area are encouraged to contact me.
I can be reached via email as "bob" at this dot-org domain. Or at astroayers@gmail.com