Al Hibbs

Albert Roach Hibbs (October 19, 1924 – February 24, 2003) was an American mathematician and physicist affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He was known as "The Voice of JPL" due to his gift for explaining advanced science in simple terms. His thesis advisor was the Nobel laureate Richard Feynman. Hibbs became close friends with Feynman and together they published the textbook Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals (McGraw-Hill, 1965),

In 1960, Hibbs was placed in charge of forming and leading the Space Science Division at JPL. As the division became successful, Hibbs emerged as the "Voice of JPL".

From the late 1960s to the 1980s, he became the authoritative source of information on JPL missions, including: the Ranger and Surveyor missions to the Moon; the Mariner missions to Venus, Mars, and Mercury; the Viking missions to Mars; and the Voyager missions to the outer planets.

Awards and honors Hibbs hosted and produced several radio and television programs for adults and children. He won a Peabody award for the children's series Exploring, as well as two Thomas Alva Edison Foundation National Media Awards. He was also given NASA's Exceptional Service Medal, "for his outstanding achievements in explaining the complexities and significance of space exploration to the general public via radio and television," and the NASA Achievement Award.

JPL in memoriam video file:In Memoriam of Al Hibbs.webm

Other activities In 1947, Hibbs and Roy Walford took time off from graduate and medical school, respectively, to go to Reno and Las Vegas to beat the casinos at roulette. Studying biases in the roulette wheels, they made profits variously estimated between $6,500 and $42,000. According to Hibbs himself, during an episode of You Bet Your Life on which he was a contestant and won $250, he made "about $12,000" from his roulette exploits. The pair used the profits to spend over a year sailing around the Caribbean aboard a 40-foot sailboat, Adonde.

Hibbs was a member of the project review committee for Biosphere 2 from 1987 to 1992 and was involved in artist Tom Van Sant's Geosphere Project from 1989 to 1995 as a member of the Eyes on Earth Board of Directors.

Personal life Hibbs first married in 1950, to Florence Pavin, with whom he had two children. He was widowed in 1970. In 1971, he married Marka Oliver.

He died in February 2003 from complications following heart surgery at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California.