Peter Jedicke

Hyperactive London Centre member. Service Award 1984. National President (2004-06).

PETER JEDICKE (1955-06-15), like his brother Robert, also well-known in the RASC, was raised in Niagara Falls but went to university in London, Ontario. Though he got his degree in Physics, Astronomy was among the courses he studied and he joined the London Centre in 1974. He quickly became a key figure in the Centre. During his Presidency, 1977-78, he gave enormous assistance, time and energy to Project Z, the Centre's highly successful summer astronomy program. He also "single-handedly organized the 1979 General Assembly, re-wrote the London Centre's Constitution and By-Laws and obtained the Centre's non-profit status. He then became the Centre's National Council Representative and began to write reviews and articles for the National Newsletter and Journal and to speak at General Assembly His paper on "Neutrinos, the Sun and Canada" won the Simon Newcomb Prize in 1987. But what everyone remembers, of course, are his hilarious songs and the inimitable way they were sung at GAs by Peter and his friend David Levy.

Peter Jedicke has made tremendous contributions to public education in his area. He hosted a TV show "Telescope" on the cable network and regularly promoted astronomy at the London Regional Children's Museum, where he helped to get a small inflatable planetarium up and running. He has visited many elementary schools to give slide shows and arrange observing sessions, and has organized local science fairs. For all these activities and more, he was presented with the Society's Service Award in 1984.

Since 1985, Peter Jedicke has taught at Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology. He was married in 1987 and accepted a second term as Centre President.

—Peter Broughton (from Looking Up)