retiree profile
Professor still star struck in retirement
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor (217) 244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
Retiree John Dickel relishes watching the neighbors. No, not the people next door, but the stars and galaxies surrounding Planet Earth. Dickel, who retired May 21 after 38 years with the department of astronomy, is still engaged in various research projects, observing and cataloging neighboring galaxies and phenomena such as supernova remnants – the remains of exploded stars. “Astronomy is my life, and I’m going to continue to do it,” Dickel said. Much of Dickel’s research has been devoted to observations of supernova remnants and as-yet unexplainable traits, such as why material in some remnants implodes while other material concurrently explodes. Dickel said he became “hooked” on supernova remnants shortly after he came to the university in 1964, when he and some students discovered a new supernova remnant while conducting a survey of the sky. “It’s a thrill to be the first person ever to see something,” Dickel said. “In many ways it’s more fun than experimental physics, where you can build devices to test reactions. We can’t do that. We’re stuck with what natures gives us, which is more of a challenge.” Dickel said he began studying the sky while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in physics at Yale University, where he did some volunteer observing with a radio telescope he had helped the university’s amateur radio club and the astronomy department build. An astronomy course he took during his junior year piqued his interest, and Dickel later went on to earn his doctorate in astronomy at the University of Michigan. In December, Dickel will be making his fourth visit to Australia as part of a research project in which he and several colleagues are surveying a nearby galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is visible only from the southern hemisphere. The project requires making multiple observations from several telescopes in different configurations and is a collaborative study involving astronomers from the United States as well as from Australia and Germany. Additionally, Dickel is engaged in a multi-year observation of the Andromeda Galaxy with an astronomer at the national observatory in New Mexico and another in the Netherlands. Although Dickel’s workload seems relatively unaffected by his retirement, he said with a smile that his emeritus status does have perquisites, namely immunity from committee obligations. Coincidentally, Dickel’s dedication to his work is matched by his spouse, Helene Dickel, an emeritus faculty member from the department of astronomy who also continues her research in the field despite her retirement in 2001. “We’re retired. So what? We’re still having fun,” John Dickel said about their enduring interest in their work. Calling it “the best job in the worst place,” Dickel said he has an abiding affinity for mountains and oceans, and this summer, the couple made their annual sojourn to Maine, where they share a vacation home. When not focused on the stars, the Dickels are often on the ice. The couple enjoy ice dancing and skate three times a week at the University of Illinois Ice Arena. Dickel said he also enjoys a variety of outdoor activities, such as camping, canoeing, hiking and cross-country skiing “if the winter allows it.” “When we really retire, we’ll probably go to New Mexico in the winters and Maine in the summers,” Dickel said. “But that’s another five years or more down the road.”
