TMT, China rant so far from the truth
This letter is a response to Mr. Greg Gerard’s false and misleading letter on Dec. 13 “TMT partners not best example of aloha.”
He writes about China’s relationship to the Thirty Meter Telescope, which is planned to be constructed on Maunakea. He goes on a long rant about communism, which is totally irrelevant, and claims that “that TMT, the company, in large part is owned by Communist China.” That is simply not true.
TMT is a nonprofit corporation with six full partners. It is managed by a board of directors consisting of all the TMT partners. The five other partners include Japan, India, Canada, along with UC and CIT. The University of Hawaii is a major beneficiary being awarded an equal share of the observing time. UH will be totally left out of one of greatest new telescopes in the world if TMT is forced to relocate.
TMT is based on technology developed by American universities who continue (UC and CIT) to lead and guide the project. The early project development has been largely funded by the Moore foundation which has contributed more that $200 million. China is only a one-sixth partner. Their major contribution is making a fraction of the 500+ mirror segments for the telescope’s primary mirror.
I think this is Mr. Gerard’s second letter trying to miss-inform on this subject. He either doesn’t care to know the facts or is just trying to find an excuse to prevent TMT locating on Maunakea, the best site for astronomy in the world. Science and culture can coexist on Maunakea. They have been doing so for over 50 years. China has nothing to do with that fact Mr. Gerard nor will they in the future.
Gerald Smith
North Kohala
Shame on both of you
Greg Gerard’s My Turn column printed in West Hawaii Today on Dec. 13 wrongly asserts that: “TMT, the company, in large part is owned by Communist China.”
He describes at length the “brutalities” of the government of China and asserts that “putting a huge telescope, largely controlled by communist ideology” on top of Maunakea “is nothing less than a grievous insult to the aloha way of life.”
In fact, the TMT International Observatory LLC is a nonprofit organization established in 2014 and headquartered in Pasadena, California.
Its members (not “owners”) are:
* The California Institute of Technology, an independent university that, despite its small size, is one of the world’s major research centers;
* The University of California, an entity of the State of California;
* The National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan comprised of five inter-university research institutes including the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan;
* The Department of Science and Technology of India;
* The National Research Council, the Government of Canada’s premier organization for research and development; and
* The National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which brings together scientists and engineers from China and around the world to address theoretical and applied problems in the sciences.
Greg Gerard’s attempt to smear TMT by inaccurate descriptions of its organization is the real grievous insult to the aloha way of life.
Furthermore, West Hawaii Today’s headline, which extends the slur to all TMT partners, manages to insult Japan, India, Canada, the State of California and Caltech.
You should both be ashamed of yourselves.
Joy Fisher
Waimea