ACADEMICS
Telescope on Table Mountain
A one-meter telescope built at Â鶹ӰÊÓ by students and faculty over a three-year period beginning in 1982 was installed in an observatory on Table Mountain that was developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, making the facility available to future Pomona students and faculty engaged in astronomical research. Over the years, it has been used for precision monitoring of Jupiter’s atmosphere, photometric observations of galactic star clusters and research into the variability of quasars, among other research topics.
Professor of the Year
Geology Professor Donald B. McIntyre was named California Professor of the Year and one of 10 finalists for national Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
First Chemistry Award
Chemistry Professor Corwin Hansch was selected as the first recipient of the American Chemical Society’s new Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution. Hansch was honored for his ground-breaking work in the new field of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR).
ATHLETICS
48-Game Win Streak
Women’s basketball completed its fourth straight undefeated season in the SCIAC (10-0), capping off a 48-game conference win streak. The Sagehens finished 27-2, the best record in program history, while Shontel Sherwood '85 earned All-America honors.
Hammer Title
Jay Hibert won his second national title in the hammer throw with a national record 209' 10" for the men’s track and field team.
EVENTS
Helmut Schmidt
Former Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt came to Pomona in October 1984 as part of the Distinguished European Visitors Program. He met with faculty, administrators and students, and gave a speech to more than 2,500 people in Big Bridges on the Cold War and post-World War II relations between Western Europe, North America and the Communist Bloc.
ALUMNI
Jennifer Doudna
Jennifer A. Doudna ’85, a professor of molecular and cell biology and chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, has devoted her scientific career understanding the inner workings of ribonucleic acid, a molecule that both conveys genetic information and regulates key chemical reactions. Doudna is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and, in 2002, was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences for her contributions to the field of biochemistry.
ELSEWHERE
- Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
- The undersea wreck of the Titanic was located by a joint American-French expedition.
- DNA evidence was first used in a criminal case.