The ALMA Telescope

Paul A. Vanden Bout is a Senior Scientist, Emeritus, at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), where he served as director from 1985 to 2002. He was the first director of ALMA and served as the head of the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC), where he organized the Center in its early years. His career has been almost entirely spent in millimeter astronomy, including pioneering the Millimeter Wave Observatory at the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory. He has participated in the entire US history of events that led to ALMA, and much of that in Europe, Japan, and Chile.

Robert L. Dickman is a Scientist, Emeritus, at NRAO. His entire career has been spent in radio and millimeter wavelength astronomy. He was head of the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences' Radio Astronomy Unit, managing the process of approval for funding the MMA, ALMA's precursor, and then ALMA itself. As a US Embassy Fellow in Santiago, Chile, he advanced the negotiation to secure the right to build and operate ALMA. After he left NSF, he held senior positions at the NRAO, first in New Mexico and then in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Adele L. Plunkett is an Associate Scientist at NRAO, working in the North American ALMA Science Center. As a Fulbright Fellow in Chile in 2012, she contributed to the Commissioning and Science Verification team at ALMA, and in the years that followed as an ESO Fellow she has spent numerous shifts as Astronomer on Duty at ALMA. She is fluent in Spanish, and previously studied Japanese, leading to a serendipitous synergy with the ALMA project.