16 May 2000 6:00 PM

Tragedy Strikes South Pole Station

A young astrophysicist has died at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
Rodney Marks, 32, was the sole operator of the Antarctic Submillimeter
Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO). The loss has devastated the staff
of 49, who are cut off from the outside world until November, as planes
can't land in the frigid conditions. The nine remaining scientists at the
base will try to put AST/RO back into operation.

 [Marks]    [telescope]

Antarctic loss. The death of Rodney Marks (left) leaves the Antarctic
Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory without a specialized
scientist at hand.
CREDITS: (LEFT TO RIGHT) A. HARPER, CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICAL RESEARCH IN
ANTARCTICA; A. LANE

On 12 May, Marks was walking from a research building back to the main
station when he began to have trouble breathing. He checked in with the
base's doctor, who consulted by satellite with medical experts, but his
condition worsened. After several hours, his heart stopped and he could not
be revived. Marks had passed all physical exams before he headed to the pole
last October, and had spent a winter at the pole once before, in 1998. It
won't be possible to determine the exact cause of death until after the
station becomes accessible.

The same delay raised tensions last year, when the previous base physician,
Jerri Nielsen, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was evacuated as soon
as a ski-equipped jet could land (ScienceNOW, 6 October 1999) and is now
writing a book about her experience.

It is the extremely cold, dry atmosphere of the South Pole that makes it
ideal for observing submillimeter wavelengths. AST/RO, which is part of the
University of Chicago's Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica,
uses a 1.7-meter telescope to measure the spectra of atomic carbon and
carbon monoxide in the Milky Way.

Before he died, Marks had been fixing a tricky problem with one of the
telescope's receivers, which must be chilled to near absolute zero. "Rodney
was doing a really superb job," says AST/RO project manager Adair Lane of
the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He
was also the only one at the pole trained to work with AST/RO. "We don't yet
know how hard it will be for others to put things back into working order."

--ERIK STOKSTAD