Ottawa and Halifax Centre member. Service Award 1986.

RANDALL C. BROOKS (1948-) joined the Society as a high school student in Moncton, NB. He studied for his B.Sc. at Mount Allison University, worked for a summer at the DAO and went on to the University of Waterloo where he received his M.Sc. in 1971. He then returned to the Maritimes, accepting a position as Research Assistant and Technician at St Mary's University in the Astronomy Department. The Halifax Centre had just been revitalized and Randall became one of its most active members. He was responsible for organizing the 1975 GA, was the Editor of the Centre's newsletter, Novo Notes, from 1975-79, and during the next few years served terms as Secretary, President, and then Treasurer. He was the main speaker nearly every year at Centre meetings; he arranged displays for the annual Societies Show and did much to encourage the development of astronomy clubs in outlying regions. His wife, Diane, served the Centre as Librarian, Secretary and Vice-President, and was presented with the Centre's Burke-Gaffney Award in 1981. In 1986 the Brookses left for England where Randall studied for his Ph.D. in the history of astronomy at the University of Leicester.

After receiving his degree in 1989, Dr Brooks continued at St Mary's University for a while and then in 1991 accepted a position at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, where he has been able to develop his historical interests to the benefit of the public and the Society.

The citation for the RASC Service Award referred also to his frequent guest appearances on radio and television and his regular astronomy column in a Nova Scotia newspaper.

—Peter Broughton (from Looking Up)