Robert Collier
Director, Jack C. Davis Observatory and Physics and Astronomy Professor
Western Nevada College
As Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Robert Collier has taught at Western Nevada College for over 22 years. Collier, originally from Virginia,fell in love with Lake Tahoe and the big blue skies of Nevada. Finding Carson City's high altitude and arid climate perfect for celestial observation, Collier founded the Jack C. Davis Observatory at WNC in 2003, which he continues to direct. He works with many different science teachers in Carson City using the observatory.
A visionary who has researched life in the harsh environment of Antarctica, Robert hopes to participate in finding life elsewhere in our solar system. Robert studied the effects of ultraviolet radiation on bacterial life in lakes on the frozen continent. According to theory, water and ultraviolet radiation may be prerequisites for life in our solar system and beyond.
Collier has more than an academic interest in the solar system. In the late 1960s, he worked on a top-secret project that turned out to be creating batteries to power the Voyager space probes. They were launched in the 1970s and still send information to Earth today.
The observatory is open to the public on Saturday evenings throughout the year.
For information about the observatory and current events and lectures, visit http://www.wnc.edu/observatory/
