1939 – February 18, 1993
by Sam Storch, E.P. Hubble Planetarium
It is with great sadness that I must report the untimely pass of George Lovi. Those of us
who had the pleasure of knowing him, learning from him, or merely reading his many
articles, have lost a “giant” indeed. George was of course, known for his encyclopedia
knowledge of the sky and its lore, but was also noted for expertise in such diverse fields
as railroads, history, cartooning, languages (he spoke more than half a dozen), and
even the Jewish Talmud. He wrote the “Ramblings” column in Sky & Telescope for 22
years, sharing his ability to bring together many seemingly diverse areas of astronomy
into his chatty columns with tens of thousands of readers each month. As a unique and
talented teacher, he shared his enthusiasm for astronomy with his classes, originally at
the Vanderbilt Planetarium, later at the Jones Planetarium in Albertson, Long Island, and
then at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. Known throughout the planetarium field for
his work in design, installation, and star alignment of many planetarium instruments, he
also did consulting work for Goto Optical Company of Japan and Minolta Planetariums.
He was literally a ‘walking encyclopedic index’ for Sky & Telescope, and had a personal
collection astronomical books, which probably numbers over 10,000 volumes.
George was born in Hungary in 1939 and came to this country as a young child. While
in school he made his own planetarium, featured in an article over 30 years ago. His first
job as a draftsman prepared him for celestial cartograghy. An acknowledged expert in
the field, he produced many sky maps, from the long-running series in Sky & Telescope
(George loved to boast that he was in the “centerfold of every issue,”) to the Uranometria
2000.0, produced with Wil Tirion of the Netherlands.
The diagnosis of cancer he received last year (1992) did not diminish George’s strength
– on more than one occasion, he checked out of his chemotherapy regimen to be able
to meet his classes and lectures at the Hayden Planetarium – he prized this joy right to
his last day. The active written correspondence George kept up with astronomers from
all over the world attest to the fact that we have lost a very special person – one who
explored the highways and byways of the field, a ‘living star atlas’ who on his passing
February 18, 1993, came that much closer to the heavenly spheres he toiled so hard to
comprehend.