By Daily Press staff
A well-respected Santa Monica College professor who died this year will be remembered this week.
The Santa Monica Amateur Astronomy Club will honor the late Jon Hodge, who had served as Santa Monica College Planetarium director for 26 years before his death, at a plaque dedication ceremony to be held on Friday, May 19.
The ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. in Drescher Hall, room 205, located near the SMC Planetarium on the second floor. The college is located at 1900 Pico Blvd.
The 10-by-15-inch plaque will be mounted in a display case outside the Planetarium. Hodge died Jan. 4 at the age of 57 shortly after retiring from the college. Last fall, his colleagues in SMC’s Earth Science Department arranged to have an asteroid named after him. Asteroid 18117, now called “Jonhodge,” is located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Reaching thousands of people though his lectures at SMC, as well as at UCLA and the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, Hodge was known for his ability to turn complex subjects into understandable and interesting talks for people of all ages.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 18, 2006. Read the original PDF.