Pole Researcher Dies

A young astrophysicist has died at the South Pole. The loss has devastated
the remaining nine scientists, who are part of a 49-member team wintering
over at the pole, and has left a telescope out of operation.

Rodney Marks, 32, died on 12 May of heart failure hours after experiencing
breathing problems that began as he walked from a research building to the
station. Marks had passed all physical exams before heading to the pole last
October, and he had wintered over before, in 1998. The cause of death won't
be known until his body is flown out in November, when the station becomes
accessible.

Marks was the sole operator of the Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and
Remote Observatory (AST/RO), which is mapping emissions from 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. "We don't yet know how hard it will be for
others to put things back into working order," says AST/RO project manager
Adair Lane of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.