Robert Weber (1926–2008) was an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets who ran the precursor to the LINEAR project shortly before his retirement in 1996. Data were collected by manually entering telescope pointing positions and requesting an image save. Searching twenty fields was a taxing experience. They did have automatic object detection working, but no starfield matching at that time. The inner main-belt asteroid 6181 Bobweber, discovered by Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory in 1986, was named in his honour on 21 March 2008. (M.P.C. 62353).
Career Weber graduated from the MIT Department of Physics in 1959, and was with the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington for 34 years (1962–1996). He also worked on sounding rockets, and interplanetary particles and fields with the Helios, Voyager, and IMP programmes. He led the team that developed the prototype for the Air Force GEODSS deep space satellite tracking network (the two LINEAR telescopes are GEODSS assets that were originally destined for Portugal). He is also responsible for the project that led to the development of the CCID16 CCD chip used in the LINEAR cameras, a natural consequence of earlier work in solid state physics.
Discovered minor planets
8409 Valentaugustus – Discovered 1995 November 28 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS in Socorro. Valentin Augustus Weber (1867–1940) was the grandfather of the team leader. Born in Germany, he moved to the U.S.\ in 1889, where he designed and constructed stained-glass windows for cathedrals and mahogany furniture for his friends and neighbors in Brooklyn, New York. 11602 Miryang – Discovered 1995 September 28 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS, Socorro. A small town in South Korea, just north of Daegu, Miryang was the birthplace of the team leader's wife, Chung-hi Koh (Helen) Weber. 12005 Delgiudice – Discovered 1996 May 19 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS, Socorro. Maria del Giudice (b. 1964) is the wife of one of the team's observers and measurers, Frank Shelly. 23612 Ramzel – Discovered 1996 January 22 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS, Socorro. Allen Lee Ramzel (b. 1960) was an observer and systems engineer for the team that discovered this object. This minor planet also honors his family. 26906 Rubidia – Discovered 1996 January 22 by R. Weber at the MIT's ETS in Socorro. Rubidia (Ruby) Mendez-Harris (b. 1945) is the wife of David L. Harris, a member of the team that discovered this object. Born in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, she was educated as a psychologist and still practices therapy and counseling in Socorro. This name was suggested by D. L. Harris in 1998. 37687 Chunghikoh – Named after R. Weber's wife. Chung-hi (Helen) Koh was the mother of seven children, a registered pharmacist, a volunteer nurse's aid and a kind hearted soul. More information coming. 39645 Davelharris – Named after a good friend and member of R. Weber's team. David Lowell Harris was the beloved husband of Ruby Mendez Harris and an enthusiastic member of R. Weber's team. More information coming.
Publications by Robert Weber Confirmation of the following publications can be found at the following websites:
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