Hi There!

My name is Frank Hill, and I'm a scientist at the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory (NSO) site in Tucson, Arizona. I currently have two major responsibilities at NSO: I am the Data Scientist for the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Project, and the Digital Library Scientist for NSO. I also work with the SOLIS project (Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun), do scientific research (primarily in the area of helioseismology, the study of solar oscillations), write proposals for funding, and talk about astronomy with students in Tucson schools. It's a lot of stuff, and I love it!

The Long & Winding Road

I was born and raised in Greenwich Village, a section of New York City where the beatniks hung out. I guess you could say my parents were beatniks-Mom was an artist, and Dad was a writer and photographer. My sister and I grew up in a top-floor corner apartment with marvelous light, just right for an artist's studio. I went to the local elementary school, and then the local Junior High (nowadays called a Middle School). I loved to read as a child (still do) and, when I was 6 years old, I found a strange orange-covered book in the library. It was an old business math book, and was filled with long sums, subtractions, multiplications and divisions to do. I was hooked on math instantly, and I still am.