Walter Orr Roberts is shown taking photos of the solar corona
with the 5 inch coronagraph he built with the assistance of
Hobart P. French and his Harvard Ph.D. advisor Donald Howard
Menzel. This, only the third coronagraph in the world and the
first in the western hemisphere, was made possible by Don
Menzel's entrepreneurial skills and Walt's technical
capabilities. Walt and his wife began their six-year residency
at "The Fremont Pass Station of the Harvard College Observatory"
on August 15, 1940. It was here that Walter Orr Roberts
discovered the link between solar flares and radio interference,
and during World War II the military used the information he
gathered to ensure uninterrupted communications. This photo, ca.
1945, shows Walt Roberts and his wife Janet Smock Roberts in
front of the original Climax installation below Bartlett
Mountain (background). This is one of several photos that Life
Magazine photographer George Leavens took to illustrate a
November 17, 1945 Life article entitled "The Coronagra