Interview with William Frazer

Abstract

An interview in March 1992 with Dr. William Frazer, professor of physics at UC Berkeley (emeritus since 1996). As UC’s senior vice president for academic affairs (1983-1991), he oversaw the planning for Keck I, the first of the W. M. Keck 10-meter telescopes on Mauna Kea. He discusses the offer of funding from the Hoffman Foundation and its eventual withdrawal and replacement with Keck Foundation money. He recalls his interactions with UC president David Gardner, Caltech president Marvin L. (Murph) Goldberger, and Caltech provost Rochus E. (Robbie) Vogt, as the UC/Caltech partnership was put together; plans to have a Keck telescope and a Hoffman telescope; the uneasiness of the UC astronomers at the prospect of an equal partnership with Caltech; and the disagreement over the siting of the telescope’s headquarters in Hawaii.