Hello Listers,
Many of you may be interested in the following NASA press release.
Bryan Bashin
>Donald Savage
>Headquarters, Washington, DC June 4, 2001
>(Phone: 202/358-1547)
>
>Nancy Neal
>Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
>(Phone: 301/286-0039)
>
>Roxanne L. Brown
>De Paul University, Chicago
>(Phone: 312/362-8623)
>
>Ray Villard
>Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
>(Phone: 410/338-4514)
>
>RELEASE: 01-108
>
>VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS TOUCH THE STARS WITH NEW HUBBLE BOOK
>
> Students who in the past have not been able to experience some of
>NASA's spectacular discoveries now have a unique opportunity to touch
>the stars.
>
>Some of the most majestic space images from NASA's Hubble Space
>Telescope are now part of a special Braille book that combines tactile
>illustrations with striking images of planets, star clusters and
>nebulae, as viewed by Hubble.
>
>The book, "Touch the Universe: A NASA Braille Book of Astronomy," is
>the brainchild of Bernhard Beck-Winchatz, an astronomer and faculty
>member at DePaul University, Chicago. He undertook the project to allow
>visually impaired students the same opportunities as those who are
>sighted to engage themselves in space science.
>
>Teaming up with astronomer and author Noreen Grice, Beck-Winchatz
>developed this much-needed space science resource book for the blind
>with a $10,000 Hubble Space Telescope grant for education programs.
>
>In 1999, Grice published "Touch The Stars," a book with touchable
>pictures based on drawings of constellations, comets, galaxies and
>other astronomical objects. "I was fascinated by Grice's book,"
>recalled Beck-Winchatz. "I thought it would be intriguing to create
>similar tactile pictures based on real Hubble Space Telescope images,
>but I didn't think this could possibly be a new idea. There are 10
>million visually impaired people in the United States; it seemed
>outrageous that these resources would not be available before now."
>
>Grice, who is based in Boston, originally began experimenting with
>techniques to make astronomy more accessible for the visually impaired
>more than 15 years ago after having observed a group of blind visitors
>at the Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston. Ever since that
>experience, she has worked on ways to make science more accessible to
>the blind and other people with physical challenges.
>
>To allow both blind and sighted readers to enjoy the Hubble images in
>"Touch the Universe," Grice developed clear tactile overlays for each
>image. The overlays were sent to Benning Wentworth, a science teacher
>and astronomy enthusiast at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the
>Blind in Colorado Springs. His students evaluated each image for
>clarity and provided important suggestions for needed changes.
>
>"Based on the students' comments, I was able to revise the images and
>make aluminum master plates," said Grice. With the final plates,
>plastic overlays were produced in a heat vacuum, or thermoform,
>machine. The tactile thermoform pages, placed in front of the color HST
>images, make these images accessible to readers of all visual
>abilities.
>
>The book is for middle school students, high school students, and
>adults alike and is expected to attract the attention of mainstream
>educators, a number of whom already use Grice's first tactile book in
>science classes. Four hundred copies will be printed in the first run,
>and the book will sell for slightly above production cost so earnings
>can offset future updates and production of a second edition.
>
>For Beck-Winchatz, helping to create such a valuable resource tool has
>been rewarding. "Scientists often live in ivory towers," said Beck-
>Winchatz. "It is only through partnerships like this that we get to
>share what we are doing. However, educational endeavors like this one
>require money. The grants for education from NASA's Office of Space
>Science allow us to branch out of pure science and use some of the
>results of research to affect the lives of the general public, and in
>this case, the blind and visually impaired."
>
>Photos of students from the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind
>examining images from "Touch the Universe" are available on the
>Internet at:
>http://analyzer.depaul.edu/ttu
>
>-end-
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