Alan Robert Whitney ’66, SM ’67, PhD ’74, a longtime research scientist at the MIT Haystack Observatory who also served its associate director and interim director, died on Sept. 28 at age 81.Whitney was a key contributor to the accomplishments and reputation of Haystack Observatory, having led the development of innovative technologies to advance the powerful radio science technique of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). He ascended to the rank of MIT principal research scientist, served for many years as associate director of the observatory, and in 2007–08 took the…
