Albert Hibbs, 78; JPL Scientist, Voice of Unmanned Missions
Albert R. Hibbs, rocket scientist and the voice of Voyager and other unmanned spacecraft who helped work his way through graduate school at the roulette wheel and dreamed of going to the moon, has died. He was 78.
Hibbs, who retired in 1986 as director of space science for Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, died Monday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena after heart surgery, said his stepson, Larry Wilson. Hibbs had suffered a series of strokes and lost the use of his right hand, but taught himself to sign his name and do crossword puzzles with his left hand.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 12, 2003 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday March 12, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 ..CF: Y 2 inches; 88 words Type of Material: Correction
Hibbs obituary -- An obituary of Albert R. Hibbs, Jet Propulsion Laboratory systems designer and spokesman for unmanned spacecraft missions, in the Feb. 27 California section said he qualified to become an astronaut on Apollo 25, only to see the Apollo moon-landing program canceled. In fact, the exact Apollo mission he was qualified for is unclear; the program was canceled after Apollo 17, with only three more flights officially listed by NASA. Hibbs did pass physical and psychological testing as required of all candidates for the spaceflight program.
The professor remained an active researcher with Volunteer Professionals for Medical Advancement, which is made up of JPL retirees. He also volunteered until recently for Earthwatch projects such as protecting orangutans on Borneo.
Hibbs served as system designer of Explorer I, which on Jan. 31, 1958, became the first U.S. satellite to orbit the Earth. Assigned to explain the results of the tiny satellite’s launch from Cape Canaveral, Hibbs went into a nearby Quonset hut and gave a detailed, scientific summary. “Hibbs, is it up or not?” a general demanded. “Yessir,” Hibbs responded quickly. “It’s up, and it’s going to stay up for 10 years.”
What he called his wild guess was correct, and he soon became known for his clarity in explaining the physics and other complex science that could send man-made objects through space. Hibbs emerged as the unmanned space program’s official voice, tracking for the world, via television and radio, the travels of Ranger and Surveyor to the moon; the Mariners to Venus, Mars and Mercury; Voyager to Neptune; and the Vikings to Mars.
In 1967, although seven years older than the age limit of 35, Hibbs qualified to become an astronaut on Apollo 25, only to have the Apollo moon-landing program canceled. “Even though I didn’t make it to the moon, my machines did,” he told The Times in 2001, referring to Ranger and Surveyor. “That was not quite as good, but it was pretty good.”
Hibbs became so adept at his spokesman role and making difficult science understandable that he was tapped by NBC in 1962 to narrate what became its award-winning children’s series “Exploring.” For four years, he commuted to New York City to do the Saturday morning educational television program, and for two years he served as science editor of NBC radio, with a weekly program “The World of Science.”
He had hosted a Southland television show, “Science in the News,” from 1961 to 1962 and later narrated two programs for KCET-TV Channel 28: “About Science” and “R&D; Review.”
The communicator and scientist wrote a foreword for his friend and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman’s 1985 best-seller, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman,” and with Feynman co-wrote a physics textbook. Hibbs also wrote two other textbooks and more than 70 technical and scientific papers.
Hibbs, who lightened his scientific concentration with such hobbies as piloting a glider for hours on end, sculpting metal and glass, repairing clocks and engaging in underwater photography, was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, and later lived in Chillecothe, south of Columbus. Introduced to science by his chemist mother, he was a teenage acolyte of Buck Rogers and dreamed of space travel when it was only contemplated in science fiction.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at Caltech in 1945, and then a master’s in mathematics at the University of Chicago, where his friend, UCLA and Biosphere II pathologist Roy Walford, was studying.
Needing money, the two young men applied their mathematical skills to roulette, first in Reno in 1947 and then in Las Vegas the next year. Initially, Hibbs said in an article published by The Times in 1958, they studied the wheels for two months to discover eccentricities.
“We observed that one number came up more frequently than it should under the laws of chance,” he said. “From our data we plotted a probability curve, that is, predetermined when the number would come up. Nine times out of 10 we were right.”
The number they chose was 9. Starting with $200, they won about $12,000 in Reno and some $30,000 in Las Vegas, walking away with enough to buy a 40-foot sailboat. After their feats were chronicled by Time magazine, The Times and other publications, casinos began rotating their roulette wheels daily to eliminate overly helpful eccentricities.
Hibbs and Wolford sailed their boat to the Caribbean, where they roamed among the islands for a year.
After they sold the craft, Hibbs returned to Pasadena to work for JPL and earn his doctorate in physics from Caltech. He taught there from 1965 to 1974.
Widowed by the death of his first wife, the former Florence Pavin, Hibbs is survived by his wife, Marka; his two children, Victoria Hibbs of Pasadena and Bart Hibbs of Altadena, and two stepchildren, Larry Wilson of Pasadena and Alicia Cortrite of Santa Monica; his sister, Agnes Jones of Tucson; and three grandchildren.
A private memorial service will be planned in March, Wilson said. The family has asked that any donations be sent to the Caltech Y at 415 S. Holliston Ave., Building 86, Pasadena, CA 91125.
