Caltech astronomer J. Beverley Oke dies; made instruments for Palomar, Keck observatories

PASADENA, Calif.—John Beverley Oke, an astronomer noted for the design and construction of astronomical instruments as well as for his work on various astrophysical phenomena, died Tuesday, March 2, at his home in Victoria, British Columbia. He was 75.

A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Oke was a professor emeritus of astronomy at the California Institute of Technology at the time of his death. He was a member of the Caltech faculty from 1958 until his retirement in 1992, and also served as associate director of the Hale Observatories from 1970 to 1978.

Oke earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Toronto in 1949 and 1950, respectively, and his doctorate from Princeton University in 1953.

Oke's scientific work covered wide areas of astronomical spectroscopy, from white dwarfs to active galactic nuclei, clusters of galaxies, and supernovae. However, he is perhaps best known for devising and building unique instruments for Caltech's Palomar Observatory and the 200-inch Hale Telescope, and later for the Keck Observatory.

His major accomplishments at Palomar include the multichannel spectrophotometer, the double spectrograph, and the 4-shooter camera, which he built with James Gunn and James Westphal. At the Keck Observatory he was the principal investigator, with Caltech astronomy professor Judith Cohen, for the low-resolution imaging spectrograph, which produced many of the 10-meter telescopes' early successes.

He continued to work in retirement at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, in Victoria. At the time of his death, he was working on a design for an imaging spectrometer for the proposed Thirty-Meter Telescope.

Oke is survived by his wife, Nancy; two sons; and two daughters.