[Hallicrafters] Astronomy For The Blind?

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Yea, I know this is off topic. But it is facinating enough I wanted all of you
who may know a blind child, or adult, to have an opportunity to learn of this.	
	
What is truly ironic here, is that Isaac Asimov, (the late Ph.D biochemist and
Science Fiction author), and I devised a real time moving tactile telescope back
in the seventies! Because it had a very narrow, almost non-existent market, we
never pursued building it. Using today's technology, it would be immensely
easier to do, much less costly and very practical. While this book is terrific,
what we did used a telescope, video camera, and technology developed by TSI
(Tele-Sensory Systems Inc. in CA) employed in a device known as the Opticon. It
had a small rectangular pad of pins that vibrated in tactile patterns to form
letters as a tiny scanner camera was mechanically moved left to right across a
line of printed text. Only one finger was used to percieve the letters, normally
the left index. 	
	
We expanded on this principal to create a four inch square pad that allowed for
graphic representations of what the telescope saw. The images could actually
move, if desired.	
	
Let it suffice to say, that Astronomy is not a real big item among those who are
totally blind! For instance, the Michigan Regional Library For The Blind and
Physically Handicapped, (each state has one under the National Library of
Congress), had zero books on recorded disk or cassette on the topic! After much
gnashing of teeth and annoying the heck out of the powers that be in Lansing, MI
I finally did succeed in getting two books on Astronomy recorded. 	
	
I was sighted until the eve of my eighteen birthday, when a careless Pheasant
hunter shot me with a twelve gauge shotgun at sixty feet while I was standing in
my own backyard. I had always loved Astronomy and had spent many hours studying
the heavens and reading every book I could find on the topic. I smile as I think
back to the World Book encyclopedia from 1951 and the descriptions of our nine
remaining planets. Wow! Were the scientists way way off on many of them! So my
interest in Astronomy is based on being sighted, not on wondering what a star
may feel like.	
	
NASA HELPS VISUALLY IMPAIRED TO "TOUCH THE UNIVERSE"

     A new book of majestic images, taken by NASA's Hubble 
Space Telescope (HST), brings the wonders of our universe to 
the fingertips of the visually impaired.

The 64-page book, titled "Touch the Universe: A NASA Braille 
Book of Astronomy," presents color images of planets, 
nebulae, stars, and galaxies. Each image is embossed with 
lines, bumps, and other textures. The raised patterns 
translate colors, shapes, and other intricate details of the 
cosmic objects, allowing visually impaired people to feel 
what they cannot see. The book incorporates Braille and 
large-print descriptions, for each of the book's 14 
photographs, so it is accessible to readers of most visual 
abilities.

"I think this book will help the blind community to better 
understand the variety of objects in space," explains the 
book's author, Noreen Grice, operations coordinator for the 
Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Boston Museum of Science. 
"This book brings amazing celestial objects, seen with the 
Hubble Space Telescope, to the fingertips of the visually 
impaired, where they can better understand the universe and 
their place within it."

NASA, which helped fund the book, and the publisher, the 
Joseph Henry Press, trade imprint of the National Academies 
Press (publisher for the National Academy of Sciences), will 
publicly release "Touch the Universe" on Thursday, Nov. 21, 
at events at both the National Federation of the Blind in 
Baltimore, and at DePaul University in Chicago.
	
"For the last 12 years, Hubble discoveries have not only 
rewritten the science textbooks, the stunning images from HST 
have also become a part of American culture. But while these 
images have wowed the world, until now, there was still one 
group - the blind - who could not share in this marvel," said 
Ed Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science. 
"Now thanks to this extraordinary new book, Hubble images are 
literally in the hands of those who could not experience the 
beauty of the cosmos before," he said.

"Touch the Universe" takes the reader on a cosmic journey. It 
begins with an image of the Hubble Space Telescope orbiting 
Earth, and then travels outward into the universe, showing 
objects such as Jupiter, the Ring Nebula, and the Hubble Deep 
Star Field North.

Grice collaborated with Bernhard Beck-Winchatz, an astronomer 
at DePaul University in Chicago, to develop the book with a 
$10,000 Hubble Space Telescope grant for educational 
outreach. In 1990, Grice published, "Touch the Stars," an 
astronomy book containing tactile line drawings of objects 
such as constellations, planets, and galaxies.

"I thought that Noreen's book, 'Touch the Stars,' was a 
wonderful idea, especially because astronomy is thought of as 
a visual science," Beck-Winchatz explains. "At the same time, 
when I saw the book and her sketches, I thought there was so 
much more we could do. There are so many wonderful images 
that are used in classrooms around the world as a hook to get 
kids interested in science, and I wanted children with visual 
impairments to also benefit from these amazing pictures," he 
said.

The pair began working on the book after Beck-Winchatz 
received the Hubble grant. Grice wrote the text and 
translated the images; Beck-Winchatz served as science 
advisor. Working in her kitchen, Grice made prototypes of the 
Hubble images by tracing them on plastic sheets, using 
special tools to create raised details. Grice not only tried 
to represent the outlines of stars, planets, and galaxies, 
she also used consistent patterns to denote color and matter. 
Raised lines, for example, represent blue. Rings are 
illustrated with dotted lines, and wavy ones signify gas 
currents.

Students at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind in 
Colorado Springs evaluated each image for clarity and 
provided suggestions for improvement. Grice traced the final 
illustrations onto metal plates and placed them in a heat 
vacuum machine to create multiple copies of molded plastic 
pages. The pages became the first prototypes of her book.

"Touch the Universe" information is on the Internet at:

http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2002/28
-end-

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