GeminiFocus July 2016 | Page 25

“For reasons not entirely clear, I have thought it worthwhile to try to put down a kind of inventory or outline of the various astronomical activities that I have pursued, and how my involvement in each of them came about — to the extent that I can remember or reconstruct reasons and motives at this late date (January 1993). The scornful phrase ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ has more than once come to my mind, for I recall old-timers speaking with contempt of colleagues who frittered away their energies on a host of activities rather than spending their lives bearing down on a single area... .” July 2016 Astronomy owes a huge debt to George’s “frittering,” as does Bo for telling the engaging story of this remarkable man. Bo has generously made this self-published e-book freely available for download here. Peter Michaud is the Public Information Outreach Manager of Gemini Observatory. He can be reached at: [email protected] GeminiFocus Figure 3-4. Extracted pages from Bo Reipurth’s book on George Herbig. 23