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.
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
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