Donald Liebenberg is an American astronomer and adjunct professor in the department of physics and astronomy at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

. An avowed eclipse chaser, he best is known for having traveled around the world to see 27 total solar eclipses since 1954. He is also regarded as having spent more time in totality, the darkest area within the moon's

umbra The umbra, penumbra and antumbra are three distinct parts of a shadow, created by any light source after impinging on an opaque object. Assuming no diffraction, for a collimated beam (such as a point source) of light, only the umbra is cast. Th ...

during a total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

, than anyone else alive.

Education

Liebenberg attended the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

as a physics major in the early 1950s. He holds three degrees, including a PhD, from his alma mater.

Career and eclipses

Liebenberg witnessed his first total solar eclipse on June 30, 1954, in

Mellen, Wisconsin Mellen is a city in Ashland County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 698 at the 2020 census. Attractions *Copper Falls State Park is located just north of Mellen. Government Mellen has a mayor-council form of government. ...

. Since then, he has traveled around the world to see solar eclipses, witnessing a total of 27 total solar eclipses. He observed his 27th, the

solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by the media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. It was also visible as a ...

, from his driveway; by coincidence, his house in

Salem, South Carolina Salem is a U.S. town in Oconee County, South Carolina. The population was 135 at the 2010 United States Census.See http://factfinder.census.gov for population numbers and for municipality and CDP lists in the 2010 Census. Geography Salem is locate ...

, was located in the path of totality. His primary motivation for pursuing solar eclipses has been to study the sun's

corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

. To this end, he wrote a proposal and obtained a grant from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

in 1954. He later worked for the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

carrying out research into the temperature and energy input of the corona. In 1973, Liebenberg successfully petitioned French officials to commission an early

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

supersonic aircraft for use in observing the

solar eclipse of June 30, 1973 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Saturday, June 30, 1973. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on E ...

. Flying on the Concorde, a group of scientists from Los Alamos and the Paris Observarory, including Liebenberg, remained in the path of totality for 74 minutes while conducting various scientific measurements of the corona. For comparison, the theoretical maximum duration for totality during the third millennium for any stationary point or observer on the Earth's surface is approximately seven and a half minutes. He has worked as an adjunct professor in Clemson's department of physics and astronomy since 1996.

Personal life

Liebenberg and his wife Norma reside in

References

External links

Donald Liebenberg interview with CSPAN2

Blog postings
where Liebenberg further discusses his experiences witnessing and researching solar eclipses {{DEFAULTSORT:Liebenberg, Donald Clemson University faculty Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel Year of birth missing (living people) 1930s births Living people People from Oconee County, South Carolina University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni American astronomers