Philip Deutschle, astronomy instructor, wins national recognition

Philip Deutschle, co-chair of the Science Department at Salinas High School and adjunct astronomy instructor at Hartnell College, has earned the Thomas J. Brennan Award by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

The award recognizes exceptional achievement related to teaching astronomy at the high school level in North America.

An astronomy instructor at Salinas High since 2003, Deutschle efforts led to the opening of an observatory at the school in the summer of 2010. The observatory is open to the public one night a week during the school year, and many community members witnessed the Venus transit earlier this year at Salinas High through this effort.

Deutschle has helped his high school students obtain paid internships at the Fremont Peak Observatory in collaboration with Hartnell’s Science and Math Institute. Andy Kreyche, Hartnell’s planetarium educator, nominated Deutschle for the award.

In the photo: Shawn Laatsch, board member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, presents Philip Deutschle with the 2012 Thomas J. Brennan Award at the ASP Annual Meeting Awards Banquet in Tucson, Arizona, on August 7. Courtesy of Hartnell College.