Wendee Levy
From AstronomyOutreach network
Wendee Wallach-Levy (b. 1948) is an amateur astronomer and the wife of comet discoverer David H. Levy. Wendee's achievements have been written up in several Who's Who books. Wendee completed her B.S.E. at SUNY Cortland in 1970. She completed her M.A.T. at New Mexico State in 1975. She taught Physical Education for 26 years in the Las Cruces Public Schools, the last five years of which she was Athletic Director at her schools. Throughout her career Wendee also coached extensively in volleyball, basketball, softball, track and field, and swimming. Her volunteer efforts included thousands of hours with the Red Cross, during which she was an instructor trainer educator in water safety, first aid, and CPR.
Outreach
In 1996 Wendee retired from teaching to join the Jarnac Observatory in Arizona, which she now serves as Director. She is a full participant in the Observatory's comet survey, plans and assists with astronomy public outreach with a telescope she built herself, and is co-host of an internet radio program called Let's Talk Stars [1].
In 1996 Asteroid 6485 Wendeesther was named in her honor by the International Astronomical Union, the official world body of astronomers.
Wendee Levy is Secretary-Treasurer of the National Sharing the Sky Foundation, an outreach organization devoted to making people look up at the stars.
Discoveries
Finally, as part of her work at Jarnac Observatory, Wendee has co-discovered 28 asteroids, each one of these small worlds orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. In 2004 her nomination to have asteroid No. 27776 named after her alma mater was officially approved by the International Astronomical Union. That world is now known as Cortland.