1991

Adaptive optics technology released to public by Robert Q. Fugate.

The 178th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington, in May 1991 provided the ideal setting for Robert Q. Fugate, technical director of the Air Force’s Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland Air Force Base to make a dramatic announcement. His groundbreaking, classified laser guide star work during the 1980s had been an unqualified success. Now for the first time, that information could be released to the public, forever changing ground-based telescope technology.