Doors open at 6:30pm for Show & Tell setup and conversations
Bob Hamilton Bio: Born in Berkeley, CA in 1946, one of four children of Berkeley-born parents. My education was at Berkeley schools. My career began as a scientific glassblower for UC Berkeley’s the Department of Electrical Engineer & Computer Sciences, (EECS) fabricating experimental electron tubes and lasers. As research funding waned I was tasked with designing the facilities and managing the equipment for EECS’ Microfabrication Facility, a shared semiconductor research used by about 400 researchers. I retired from UC after 50 years as Principal Development Engineer for the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory, the successor to the Microlab. Alumni from these labs are responsible for the donation of two new UC Berkeley Buildings.
In 1975 I met my partner John Leathers. Our first house came with a solarium and we began growing exotic plants and orchids. We have passionately pursued orchid raising for more than four decades. We grow in our home glass greenhouse and a rented greenhouse in Pacifica California. We hybridize plants and do our own lab work. John’s specialties are Pleurothallids and mine Odontoglossum, both cool growing Andean orchids. John received the American Orchid Society’s Hybridizer Award and I the President’s Award for my contributions to manipulating the chromosome numbers of orchids.
Together we operate Hawk Hill Orchids, a non-commercial effort at hybridizing as well as preserving high-elevation Andean orchids.
The Victorian Orchid Craze
At the end of the 19th Century through World War I orchid growing became a passion of the rich and famous. England was the epicenter of the craze. Given the volume of orchid imports the early hybrids contained genomes of some of the finest plants ever collected from nature. The switch from absolute faith based knowledge to science and exploration produced a frenzy, often competitive in the discoveries of nature. This talk is a 50/50 talk. The last part is about what John Leathers and I do and have been doing for almost 50 years. I’ll try and obey the 11th Commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Bore”.
Dinner with the Speakers:
Members of DVOS are invited to a no-host, pre-meeting dinner with our speaker, Bob Hamilton. We will meet for dinner at 5 PM on Thursday July 11th at:
Aung Burma, 2151 Salvio St Suite E, Concord, CA 94520
This restaurant is a 5-minute drive from the meeting venue. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to bonddiane9@gmail.com by 5PM Wednesday, July 10th so that Diane can make reservations.
