John B. Oke, 75; Caltech Astronomer Designed Telescope Instruments
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
John Beverley Oke, 75, a professor emeritus of astronomy at Caltech noted for his design and construction of astronomical instruments, died Tuesday at his home in Victoria, British Columbia.
A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, Oke earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Toronto and his PhD at Princeton. He joined the Caltech faculty in 1958 after teaching at the University of Toronto.
He is perhaps best known for devising and building instruments for Caltech’s Palomar Observatory and the 200-inch Hale Telescope, and later for the Keck Observatory.
He continued to work in retirement at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria.
