Robert F. Howard, the first Director of the National Solar Observatory as a part of NOAO, retired last October. On 26 March of this year, over sixty of Bob's colleagues and friends gathered in Tucson for a one-day meeting to celebrate his lifelong contributions to solar astronomy. Marking the high regard in which Bob is held, Arvind Bhatnagar traveled from India, and Hiro Yoshimura from Japan, specially for the event.
Bob served and led the solar physics community in many capacities (most recently as an editor of Solar Physics), but doing science was always his passion and focus. Appropriately, science was at the core of his celebratory meeting.
After welcoming comments by Sidney Wolff (for NOAO) and Mark Giampapa (for NSO), Bill Livingston presented a biographical sketch of Bob's life with an emphasis on the Mount Wilson days during which he had a long and productive association with solar physicists from around the world, as well as with Carnegie Fellows, postdocs, and summer students. This overview was followed by a series of scientific talks related to Bob's work: Jack Harvey on magnetographs then and now, Herschel Snodgrass on magnetic rotation, Bernard Durney on differential rotation, Tom Duvall on meridional circulation, Peter Gilman on synoptic maps, Sydney D'Silva on subsurface fields, Rudi Komm on torsional oscillations, Sara Martin on the solar cycle, and Hiro Yoshimura on the Sun and climate change. Reminiscences were presented by Dale Vrabec, Hal Zirin, Dave Rust, Dick White, and Arvind Bhatnagar.
The meeting was attended by Bob's wife Molly and their children and grandchild. As a final surprise, Bob's son closed the day with a colorful account of growing up in a much-traveled astronomical family. An evening dinner followed with congratulatory messages read from those who could not attend.
We all wish Bob and Molly the best in their future travels and adventures from a new home base in Flagstaff.
Bill Livingston, Doug Rabin, Jack Harvey