Queen’s Birthday honour to The Dish’s operations scientist

He chose astronomy, not because it was his  favourite subject but simply because all the other `popular’ choices had  been snapped up by his classmates. Researching the moon, stars and  planets led him to a book about NASA (National Aeronautics and Space  Administration).

He was hooked!...and the catalyst towards a  career in astronomy.

It also helped that the next year his dad bought  him a telescope for coming top of his class.

The ensuing years saw the telescope gift get bigger and bigger, ­rewards for his ongoing academic success.

It was something that continually fuelled  his passion for astronomy, ­a passion that today has seen him recognised for his services to the profession with an OAM (Order of Australia Medal) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

John is an Operations Scientist at the Parkes Radio Telescope, or as it’s  more affectionately referred to as The Dish.

John and wife Anahid arrived  in Parkes in October 1996 to work on the Galileo Mission project.

“Initially I was to be here for 11­months, tracking for NASA the spacecraft  orbiting Jupiter,” John said.

“I worked on this project for a year and at  the end of the contract successfully applied for my current position.  

“However, it remains a running joke that I’m now 20 ­years into my 11­ month contract.”

John Sarkissian was two years­ old when his parents migrated to Australia  from Egypt.

The family took up residence in the Sydney suburb of  Eastlakes where John was to go on and attend the Marist Brothers Primary  School at nearby Daceyville before completing his secondary education at  Marist Brothers High in Pagewood.

Then it was off to Sydney University to  study science, during which time he founded and subsequently became the  first president of the university’s Astronomical Society.

After securing a position with IBM (Associate Systems Engineer), John left  three years later to complete his degree part ­time ­switching to the UTS  (University of Technology, Sydney).

Aged in his early 20’s, John was full of energy, gaining work at the Sydney  Observatory and supplementing his income with professional photography  contracts, ­ an artform garnered from TAFE studies.

In 1989, he headed overseas where he met his future bride whilst  backpacking in Armenia. They married a short time later and before long were heading to Parkes.

“You know, we were only here a couple of  weeks when Anahid complained of not feeling too well. It was then we  discovered she was pregnant with our first child Markarid,” John said.

“All  three of our children, Markarid, son Mihran and our youngest daughter,  Lucin, which in Armenian means Moon were all born and educated in  Parkes.” The Parkes Radio Telescope became famous for its involvement in the  Moon Landing in 1969.

However, it was during the late 1990’s that John discovered that the original tapes of the historical event were missing.

In 2003, he and a small team commenced a search for the missing tapes which resulted in him producing a report that in turn led to NASA initiating a  formal search for the tapes in 2006.

“Unfortunately, we were disappointed  to discover that the tapes had been erased. But the consolation prize so to  speak was that the best existing video recording of that historic moment  was restored and released on November 4, 2009,” John said.

Ironically, it was this early research work in the 1990s that led to Rob Sitch  and his Working Dog team contacting the then boss Dr John Reynolds  (Officer in Charge) as to the possibility of them doing some reconnaissance work on site for a project they were planning.

“We thought they were  wanting to do a documentary and so John (Reynolds) asked me to show  them around ­ saying ‘You know all about Apollo 11’.

“After a while it  dawned on me that they were planning a film, a comedy, about the moon  landing,” John said.

The Working Dog team continued to liaise with John ­ particularly on  technical matters.

“You know the scene where they lost contact with the spacecraft and then reverted to a blackboard full of mathematical  calculations to find the missing spacecraft, well that was all my effort. It  took me two weeks to figure it out and I’m proud to say that those  calculations were accurate,” John said.

“Every time The Dish had to be moved into position for a particular scene I  was responsible for that too.

“At one stage I was even going to have my  moment on the big screen, as a gardener in the background of a scene, but  that got scrapped. There went my movie career.”

The film opened to rave reviews from the critics in October 2000 and was a  huge success both here and internationally.

“Because of the film, it  introduced the Telescope and Parkes to a whole new generation which saw  visitor numbers at the Telescope double.

“Interest in Astronomy gained momentum and in 2001 Alex Abbey called  me to say there was a new Bishop in the Wilcannia Diocese who was very  interested in forming an Astronomical Society.

“Next February sees us  celebrating the society’s 15th anniversary.”

Today, the Parkes AstroFest with its magnificent photographic competition  is one of the highlights of the Parkes calendar year.

The awarding of the OAM in today’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List came  as a huge shock to John.

“At first I thought someone was playing a joke  on me and then I realised it was for real, a bolt out of the blue” he said.

“Initially, I wasn’t going to accept the award. While I’ve always loved talking  about astronomy I’ve never enjoyed being the centre of attention.  

“However, after giving it a few days thought I decided to accept the honour, knowing it  would provide me the opportunity to talk more about astronomy.

“At this  time, I feel deeply honoured and humbled by the award.

“My only regret is that my mum, who passed away last year, isn’t here to celebrate this special moment with me and the rest of the family.”

• Operations Scientist, CSIRO Parkes Observatory, since 1996.

• Initiated a search that later led to a joint Australia­US effort to recover the  original NASA video tapes of the first Moon landing, 1999­2009.

• Founder and First President, Sydney University Astronomical Society,  1982­83.

• Founder and First President, Endeavour Astronautical Society, 1985 ­  1990.

• Co­founder, Australian Space Policy Institute, 1989­1990.

• Member, International Year of Astronomy Advisory Group, the National  Committee of Astronomy, 2007­2009.

• Co­founder and First President, Central West Astronomical Society  (CWAS), since 2002.

• Instigator and administrator, CWAS “David Malin Awards”  astrophotography competition, 2004 (Australia-­wide astronomical  photography competition), since 2004.

• Chairman, Organising Committee, CWAS AstroFest, since 2004.

• Technical Advisor and Telescope Operator, ‘The Dish’ (Australian film),  Working Dog Productions, 1998­2000.

• President, Parents and Friends Association, Red Bend Catholic College,  since 2013.

• Chairman, Fundraising Committee, 3rd Parkes Scouts, 2012­2015.

• Member, Parkes Rotary, 2004­2009.

• Recipient, Rotary District 9700 Vocational Excellence Award, 2013 and  Paul Harris Fellow, 2013.