The Fairborn Institute
The nonprofit Fairborn Institute supports science research and education in two areas: Cosmic
Evolution and Observational Astronomy. Both of these areas are briefly described below, along with a short description of some of the Institute’s published books in each area. This is followed by a brief bio of the Institute’s Director, Russ Genet. Over the years the Institute has worked closely with the Collins Foundation and other organizations.
Cosmic Evolution
Cosmic Evolution is the unified view of physical, biological, and cultural evolution.
The Institute's work in this area has concentrated on organizing a dozen workshops and conferences, with several conference proceedings published as books. Several years of research were published in the 1997 book, The Chimpanzees Who Would Be Ants: A Unified
Scientific Story of Humanity. Continued research over another decade resulted in the greatly expanded 2007 book, Humanity: The Chimpanzees Who Would Be
Ants. Research is underway for a third version of this book with a tentative new title, The Great Planetary Transition: Deep Evolution and the Future of AI, Humanity, and Earth. A new workshop is tentatively scheduled for February 15-19, 2027, in Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii.
Humanity: The Chimpanzees Who Would Be Ants 2007
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Russell Genet, Forword by Peter Richerson, Collins Foundation Press
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The science-based story of how, in a remote corner of an ordinary galaxy 13.7 billion years after the Big Bang, the descendants of a third line of chimpanzees evolved into millions of humans who organized themselves into ant-like societies. Originally rare hunters, we humans took up agricultural ways, aping the clever ants that became numerous by developing ingenious herding and gardening skills. Evolving our simple chimp tools into machines, we then tapped a bonanza of fossil fuel energy and blitzkrieged the planet. Now facing planetary limits, what is our fate? Reversing direction, will we return to a planetary Garden of Eden or, pedal to the metal, crash into oblivion? Will we transform the Earth into a sustainable global farm or, leaving our birth-planet behind, voyage to the stars with our machine partners to establish a galactic empire?
The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critiques 2008
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Editors: Joseph Bulbulia, Richard Sosis, Erica Harris, Russell Genet, Cheryl Genet, and Karen Wyman. Collins Foundation Press.
An international conference held in Makaha, Oahu Hawaii, described, from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint, the current state of the scientific study or religion. The 56 participants included Justin Barrett, Christopher Boehm, Joseph Bulbulia, Armin Geertz, Stewart Guthrie, William Irons, Peter Richerson, Richard Sosis, Havey Whithouse, and David Sloan Wilson.
The Evolutionary Epic: Science's Story and Humanity's Response 2009
Editors: Cheryl Genet, Russell Genet, Brian Swimme, Linda Palmer 7Linda Gibler
Foreword by David Christian, Collins Foundation Press
Another international conference held a year later again in Makaha, Oahu Hawaii, was much wider in scope, not only covering the scientific explanation of evolution from the Big Bang to the present and beyond, but the human and spiritual response to this epic story. The 46 participants included: Nancy Abrams, Craig Benjamin, David Christian, Cheryl and Russell Genet, Ursula Goodenough, Louis Herman, Pauline Le Bel, Joe Primack, Kathy Schick, Brian Swimme, and Nicholas Toth.
Science, Wisdom, and the Future: Humanity's Quest for a Flourishing Earth 2012
Cheryl Genet, Jack Palmer, Linda Gibler, Linda Palmer, Russell Genet, & Vera Wallen
Foreword: Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack. Collins Foundation Press.
This conference was held several years later in San Luis Obispo, California. It took a wider, more philosophical and humanistic view of our quest for a sustainable future, with 42 participants including: Nacy Abrams, Dwight Collins, Riane Eisler, Duane Elgin, Chery and Russell Genet, Louis Herman, Pauline Le Bel, Ron Sahser, Joel Primack, and Rob Rutherford.
Observational Astronomy
The Institute's observational astronomy research has been concentrated on stellar astronomy. At high magnification, binary stars can appear as two separate stars. By measuring the changing separations and position angles of these stars, their masses can be deduced when combined with other information such as their distances. Larger telescopes can resolve binary stars with smaller separations, while the effects of atmospheric smearing can be overcome by taking thousands of very short exposures via speckle interferometry. particularly binary star astrometry. Most of the Institute's research has been conducted with students, with over 100 published papers and 1000 student coauthors. Over a dozen books have been published in this area, many with student coauthors or co-editors.
Students, instructors, and supporters pose during an observing run at Mt. Wilson Obervatory. The famous 100-inch Hooker telescope now used for binary star speckle interferometry was used by Edwin Hubble 100 years ago to discover the size and expansion of the universe.
Microcomputer Control of Telescopes 1985
Mark Trueblood and Russell Genet, Willmann-Bell.
Russ Genet founded the Fairborn Observatory in 1979, and by 1983 he and Louis Boyd had fully automated telescope observations. This pioneering1985 book became an international guide to the computerization and automation of telescopes.
Photoelectric Photometry of Variable Stars 1982
(second revised and enlarged edition 1988)
Douglas Hall and Russell Genet. Willmann-Bell.
A concise guide to stellar photometry, including theoretical foundations, equipment, calibration and analysis of observations.
Robotic Observatories 1989
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Russell Genet and Donald Hayes. 1989, Fairborn Press.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, Russ Genet and Louis Boyd fully automated a complete mountaintop observatory with seven robotic telescopes that included remote access to via 9600 baud modems. This book not only reported on how this pioneering observatory was designed and operated (and how it could be done by others) but suggested how arrays and networks of fully automated telescopes could be deployed in the future, an eventuality which soon came to pass.
Telescope Control 1997
Mark Trueblood and Russell Genet. Willmann-Bell.
This was a major update of the 1985 book, much needed by the rapidly expanding field of automated observational astronomy. A major international conference in Hawaii in 2011 (www. https://tfa.cfht.hawaii.edu/ ) ended the pioneering era as robotic telescopes and automated observatories became ubiquitous.
Russell M. Genet
Russ’s lifelong interests have been cosmic evolution The Great Planetary Transition: Deep Evolution and the Future of AI, Humanity, and Earth. Teaching astronomy research courses at Gila Community College and, at 85, still making instrument approaches in his Cherokee 180 airplane. Russ has a BS in electrical engineering and a PhD in astronomy. He pioneered the development of robotic telescopes in the 1980s, was President of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1993 to1995, and initiated the Astronomy Research Seminars in 2007 that have now spread to many schools. Russ is the author or coauthor of many books and papers, see https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8020-3459. For additional background visit Russell Merle Genet on Wikipedia or read his memoir, Making Childhood Dreams Come True (Amazon).
Published by
Fairborn Institute
2022