June 25, 1934 - February 20, 2013

We have received the sad news that Professor Dr. Donat G. Wentzel passed away on 22 February 2013. It was Don Wentzel who agreed, at the General Assembly of the IAU at Kyoto in 1997, to write a book titled "Astrophysics for University Physics Courses" for the UNBSSI. This book was published in 2003 as a United Nations document (ST/SPACE/12; 1150 copies) in print and accessible on the world wide web:

This book was one leg of the UNBSSI TRIPOD that consisted of an astronomical telescope (donated by Japan), observing programmes for variable starts (provided by the American Association of Variable Stars Observers), and teaching material (Astrophysics for University Physics Courses). This TRIPOD concept for basic space science (1991-2004) was later adopted by the IAU in its Strategic Plan 2010-2020 "Astronomy for the Developing World - Building from IYA 2009"

Since 2005 the UNBSSI is pursuing a TRIPOD for space weather consisting of a space weather instrument, instructions for the operation of the respective instrument, and education material for space weather.

This information is for the ISWI Newsletter.
Hans