Bryn Athyn College Alumni Magazine Fall/Winter 2017-18 | Page 12

Moonwatch
Team
Wertha Pendleton Cole
College Professor
Team Leader
Charlie Cole
Dean of the College
Helped establish the station
Edward Allen
Physics and Math Professor
Helped establish the station
Morna Hyatt
College Professor / Girls School
Teacher
Deputy leader,
Wertha’s assistant
Mary Alice Carswell
Librarian
Secretary
Lyris Hyatt
English teacher
Operated the tape recorder
and kept track of timing
Kenneth Rose
Mathematician, and math
teacher
In charge of calculations,
using “spherical geometry”
Keneth Simons
Engineer for RCA
Tracked satellites by radio,
working from his home
on Sycamore Road, a mile
away from Benade Hall
Cynthia Walker
Girls School student as a
Freshman and Sophomore
Student Spotter
12 | F A L L / W I N T E R 2 0 1 7 - 1 8
Keneth Simons brought a wealth of knowledge to the Moonwatch team, having worked as an
engineer for RCA, the communications firm that created the first national radio network (NBC).
of women at Bryn Athyn College, Wertha
had the knowledge, passion, and lead-
ership to bring the small town of Bryn
Athyn into the worldwide conversation,
making international headlines for her
team’s contribution to astronomy at this
pivotal time.
A Bold Plan
In the fall of 1956, while attending a dis-
cussion with her astronomy colleagues at
the University of Pennsylvania, Wertha
heard exciting news. The U.S. planned to
launch its first satellite, and the Smith-
sonian Astrophysical Observatory want-
ed volunteer stations to help track this
launch. This bold idea sprung from the
preparations for a historic, global, scien-
tific collaboration called the Internation-
al Geophysical Year (IGY) which would
span from June 1957 to December 1958.
As part of the IGY, “Project Moonwatch”
would engage students, teachers, and
community members alike in a unified
effort to watch the skies.
Bryn Athyn Moonwatch Team Forms
Wertha felt that Bryn Athyn would be the
perfect place to establish a moonwatch
station. To start, she gathered talented
community members including teachers
and students from Bryn Athyn College
and the ANC Secondary Schools.
One of these students, 15-year-old
Cynthia Hyatt Walker (AA ’62), who con-
tributed much of the historical research
for this article, said, “Mrs. Cole inspired
us right from the start. We could actu-
ally do something in a tangible way. It
was challenging and fun to work along-
side faculty and friends—and walking up
Alden road at 4 a.m. added to the excite-
ment!” Another member of the commit-
tee, Kenneth Rose said, “Mrs. Cole’s at-
titude seemed somewhat visionary,” and
“her enthusiasm proved contagious.”
The group soon became officially regis-
tered as one of the nation’s 130 Moon-
watch teams.
Throughout the spring of 1957,
the Bryn Athyn “Moonwatchers,” as
they came to be known, would train for
an hour at a time after sunset, develop-
ing tracking techniques, and as Kenneth
added, “learning how cold it becomes
when one has to sit still.” The team sat
on the roof of the Academy’s Benade Hall
and peered through telescopes.
Spotting birds, airplanes, or even
rocks thrown into the air helped them
practice their calculations. They prac-
ticed shouting “ho” when something
came into view, then “center,” and “out”
as it left.