[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14699]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO DR. ROBERT MILLIS ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE LOWELL 
                              OBSERVATORY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ANN KIRKPATRICK

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 10, 2009

  Mrs. KIRKPATRICK of Arizona. Madam Speaker, I would like to pay 
tribute to Dr. Robert L. Millis who is retiring as director of the 
Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. During his tenure, Dr. Millis 
oversaw the Lowell Observatory--one of only a handful of private, 
independent research observatories in the United States--quadruple its 
staff, increase visitation tenfold, and construct major new facilities 
including the Steele Visitor Center, the McAllister Public Observatory, 
the John M. Wolff instrument facility, and, most recently, the 4.2-
meter Discovery Channel Telescope now under construction in Northern 
Arizona.
  As a researcher at Lowell, Dr. Millis concentrated on smaller bodies 
of the Solar System: asteroids, comets, planetary satellites, Pluto, 
and objects orbiting on the edges of our Solar System. Dr. Millis was a 
member of several two-person teams that discovered the rings of Uranus, 
noted periodic variation in the activity of Comet Halley, and proved 
the existence of an extended atmosphere on Pluto. He also led a multi-
institutional team--the Deep Ecliptic Survey--in an eight-year endeavor 
to explore the region of the Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune. 
That venture resulted in the discovery of approximately half the 
currently known objects in the area known as the Kuiper Belt.
  Dr. Millis will remain an active pillar of the Flagstaff community. 
He will work with Flagstaff-area business leaders committed to 
improving the greater Flagstaff area and the State of Arizona by 
bringing together talent and resources to provide leadership on 
economic and quality of life issues in the region. I wish Dr. Millis 
the best of luck and look forward to seeing the greater Flagstaff 
community benefit from the energy and leadership that Dr. Millis 
provided to the Lowell Observatory for the past 40 years.

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