Bob Gaskin will share his insights at The E. O. Wilson Biophilia Center, Saturday September 10, 1-3 p.m.
Gaskin graduated from Clemson University and spent the next 30 years in the US Air Force and retired as a colonel in 1992. He trained at Hurlburt AFB in 1968 prior to service in Vietnam and fell in love with the Emerald Coast. He promised himself that he would return one day.
He met his wife, Sally, who was serving in the Red Cross in South Vietnam. For most of his career he flew fighter aircraft such as the A-37, F-4 Phantom and F-16. He has also flown the U-2R, often referred to as the "spy plane," for a number of years.
Following his retirement from the Air force in 1991, he worked in Washington, D.C. as a registered lobbyist for several large think tanks and trade associations. He and Sally built a home in Avalon Beach and moved to the area in 2000 just in time to celebrate the millennium.
Bob took over the Focus Center, our local science museum in Fort Walton Beach, upon arrival in the area and spent the next nine years as the museum's executive director. While at the museum he changed things considerably, adding everything from new exhibits, special and exciting programs and even two new classrooms. He also changed the name of the museum to the Emerald Coast Science Center in 2002.
Bob decided to add Astronomy programs to the science center in 2003 and equipped the museum with new telescopes of all kinds. He added a portable, computer powered, laser equipped planetarium which is still in use today.
He retired from the science center two years ago and now devotes a great deal of his time to astronomy and astrophotography. His pictures and equipment can be seen on his website at www.gaskin-Astro.org
Regular admission rates apply, 4956 SH 20E, Freeport. (850) 835-2879. www.eowilsoncenter.org
Gaskin graduated from Clemson University and spent the next 30 years in the US Air Force and retired as a colonel in 1992. He trained at Hurlburt AFB in 1968 prior to service in Vietnam and fell in love with the Emerald Coast. He promised himself that he would return one day.
He met his wife, Sally, who was serving in the Red Cross in South Vietnam. For most of his career he flew fighter aircraft such as the A-37, F-4 Phantom and F-16. He has also flown the U-2R, often referred to as the "spy plane," for a number of years.
Following his retirement from the Air force in 1991, he worked in Washington, D.C. as a registered lobbyist for several large think tanks and trade associations. He and Sally built a home in Avalon Beach and moved to the area in 2000 just in time to celebrate the millennium.
Bob took over the Focus Center, our local science museum in Fort Walton Beach, upon arrival in the area and spent the next nine years as the museum's executive director. While at the museum he changed things considerably, adding everything from new exhibits, special and exciting programs and even two new classrooms. He also changed the name of the museum to the Emerald Coast Science Center in 2002.
Bob decided to add Astronomy programs to the science center in 2003 and equipped the museum with new telescopes of all kinds. He added a portable, computer powered, laser equipped planetarium which is still in use today.
He retired from the science center two years ago and now devotes a great deal of his time to astronomy and astrophotography. His pictures and equipment can be seen on his website at www.gaskin-Astro.org
Regular admission rates apply, 4956 SH 20E, Freeport. (850) 835-2879. www.eowilsoncenter.org
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