44 Friday,.February 7, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
ITSI
HE STARS
BY HEIDI PRESS
Local News Editor
For busy West Bloomfield
urologist Dr. Bryan Shumaker,
the stars are not the limit.
IM
Dr. Shumaker demonstrates one of his larger telescopes.
Four-year-old Lauren Shumaker
says when she grows up she wants to
go to the "Jewish star."
"There might be one millions and
billions of miles away, maybe,"
hypothesizes brother Scotty, 6. And if
anyone will be able to find it, it will be
their amateur astronomer father.
Dr. Bryan Shurnaker, senior staff
urologist at Henry Ford Hospital in
Detroit, has more than just an occa-
sional interest in the stars. The West
Bloomfield physician will lead an ex-
pedition to South America this spring
to view Halley's Comet. And why such
a distant journey to view this celestial
phenomenon which makes its appear-
ance every 76 years? "To view the
comet in a good place," he explains.
The comet will best be visible from the
southern hemisphere, and for those
with the $2,000-plus to spend on such a
trip, it could mean the chance of a
lifetime.
The two-week trip, scheduled for
late March and early April, is open to
anyone who wishes to go. It will in-
clude a visit to the Cerro Tololo
Inter-Anierican Observatory in Chile;
a stop in the Chilean capital, Santiago;
and tours of other points of interest in
Chile, such as museums and land-
marks.
Shumaker's interest in astronomy
began at age 13, when an uncle gave
him a reflector mirror to build a tele-
scope. But the demands of school, col-
lege, medical school and medical re-
sidencies led him away from his hobby
until four years ago when a visit to the
planetarium at Cranbrook Educa-
tional Community "rekindled" his
interest.
"I started reading again, getting
more interested and started building '
telescopes again," he said. He built his
son Scotty a telescope with the reflec-
tor mirror given him by his uncle, and
has since built two larger telescopes
that sit in a room at the back of his
home.
Both children share their father's
interest in looking at the stars. "I love
it," says Scotty, who reads about the
planets in the encyclopedia and in a
book about space. Sister Lauren can
pick out the planet Jupiter and its
moons. Wife Suzanne and the children
often join Shumaker when he goes out
observing.
"I'm crazy," Shumaker explains.
"I'll go (observing) when it's 23 degrees
below zero." In addition, he takes great
pains to describe to the uninitiated the
functions of the teleaCope and how to
look for specific constellations and
stellar bodies. His hospital office is
decorated with a star chart and other
astronomy-related materials in addi-
tion to his medical degrees, honors and
certificates.
Shumaker also has published ar-
ticles on astronomy. He has contrib-
uted articles to Astronomy and Sky
and Telescope magazines, describing
how to upgrade telescopes in one of
them. He meets with members of the
Warren Astronomical Society and
often goes to "star parties," outings in
which he joins other astronomy buffs
gazing at the heavens.
He has taken his interest further
still. Shumaker has just completed
and is planning to publish a children's
novel, The Jumping-OffPlace, about a
father whose interest in space leads to
contact with extra-terrestrials, and
his son, who learns the father's study
of the planets goes beyond the tele-
scope. Why did he write the book? "It
was a creative urge."
Shumaker has since been ap-
proached by Oakland University to
give lectures on astronomy, under the
auspices of the university's depart-
ment of physics. He regards the ap-
pointment as a big accomplishment.
"Considering I got a D in math in high
school, that's pretty good."
Yet, Shumaker's extra-curricular
interests are not limited to astronomy.
According to Dr. Fred Hetzef, a
member of his laser research team at
the hospital, Shumaker is a "new
Renaissance-type person,"
Added to his astronomy interest
is woodworking, computers and writ-
ing. He began his pursuit of wood-
working when "I couldn't buy what I
wanted commercially." Shumaker
• has designed a geodesic playhouse
dome for his children, a 700-foot,
two-level deck for his home and a
.