Bill Hubbard Retires

Bill Hubbard Retires

After 45 years of service to the University of Arizona as a faculty member and as Director/Department Head (LPL/Planetary Sciences, 1977-1981), Professor William Hubbard will transition to Professor Emeritus in May.

Professor Hubbard earned his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1967 from the University of California, Berkeley (Electron Conduction in Degenerate Stellar Matter with L.G. Henyey). He joined LPL in 1972 as Associate Professor, and was promoted to Professor in 1975. In No Longer Points of Light, Bill recalls his early days at LPL: "I was recruited by Gerard Kuiper. He was a very energetic person, especially given his age. He was very enthusiastic about his new department, and he took me on a tour of all of his observing sites around the area....He talked to me about where he thought the Laboratory was heading and what he thought my role would be in it....The way he expressed it to me was that the Department was going to be an essential component for keeping the Laboratory in existence. At that time it was only LPL; there was no Department. He thought that in order to ensure the longevity of the whole enterprise that we needed an academic arm; we needed to have graduate students, we needed to have a teaching program."

Professor Hubbard has been the recipient of many honors and awards throughout the course of his distinguished career, including election as a Fellow to the American Geophysical Union (1991) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2003). He was awarded the Gerard P. Kuiper Prize in Planetary Sciences by the Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS) in 2005. In 2012, Professor Hubbard received NASA Group Achievement Awards for the Juno (mission) proposal and for Juno mission development, launch, and early operations. He was honored with the Blitzer Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Physics and Related Sciences (University of Arizona) in 2013. Professor Hubbard's former students include Jonathan Fortney (Ph.D., 2004), Maki Hattori (M.S., 2008), Joseph MacFarlane (Ph.D., 1983), Robert Marcialis (Ph.D., 1990), Mark Marley (Ph.D., 1990), and Wayne Slattery (Ph.D., 1976).

On May 9, LPL hosted a reception to honor Professor Hubbard's long career and many contributions to the department and to the scientific community. Current and former faculty and students from LPL, the University of Arizona, and the Tucson community gathered to share their stories about Bill and to wish him well. Guests were invited to a "retirement" reception; however, Professor Hubbard is looking forward to working with students and continuing his role as a co-investigator on the Juno mission.
Mark Marley, Jonathan Fortney, Bob Marcialis, and Didier Saumon pose with their former advisor, Bill Hubbard.
LPL alum Cliff Stoll sent his greetings and a personalized Klein bottle.
Bill was gifted with a planetary orb created by Philabum Glass.
Didier Saumon and Ilaria Pascucci with the guest of honor.