Stiri

  • Vladimir Boico (1909-2001)
    Unfortunatelly, the first piece of news we have is a sad one
    Eng. Vladimir Boico, honorary president of the Bucharest Astroclub and former president (1990-1998), died on January 27, 2001, at the age of 91.
    For Astroclub members young and old, Mr. Boico has been "guiding light". Many amateur astronomers owe Mr. Boico their astronomical instrument, from construction advise and expertise to already ready made telescope mirrors and entire telescopes.
    Here's a short presentation of the man and astronomer, prepared in august 1999 by prof. Erika Suhai:

    " Eng. Vladimir Boico is a remarkable personality in the Bucharest Astroclub, the senior of the romanian amateur astronomers, born in 1909 and the first man to install a portable telescope on the "Omu" mountain - 2500m? altitude peak in Bucegi mountains, Romania-. Discoverer of the "Shunak" meteor crater in the Betpac-Dala desert of Central Asia in 1966, Mr. Boico has also been the witness of more that 4 solar eclipses. At the request of the romanian astronomer Gheorghe Demetrescu, Eng. Boico built a mechanical device that allowed Demetrescu to obtained corectly exposed photographs of the planet Jupiter together with its sattelites and the background stars, research used by NASA for the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 space missions. Mr. Boico has also continuously monitored the quality of the image of the solar photosphere as observed from Bucharest, begining with 1964 and ending in 1996. For 20 years, Mr. Boico has initiated dozens of young amateurs in Amateur Telescope Making - ATM, activity conducted in a small room within the "Amiral Vasile Urseanu" Observatory "

    Unfortunatelly, Mr. Boico spent his last years almost alone, visited only by close friends. Ilness and old age prevented him even from recognizing people's faces during the last year of his life. He dissapeared on a January day, with his lifetime friend Mr. Vidican beside him.
    May he rest in peace