Talk:William H. Robbins

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 02:00, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

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• Article history

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• ... that William H. Robbins was a NASA engineer and project manager who worked on the NERVA nuclear rocket engine, NASA wind turbines, communication satellites, and the Shuttle-Centaur program? Source: "He was a Scientist-Project Manager who has a distinguished 38 year career at NASA while working on Nuclear Power, Nuclear Rocket engines, Wind Power, Communication Satellites, and the Shuttle/Centaur Program " ([1])
  • ALT1: ...that NASA engineer William H. Robbins worked on what was then the world's largest windmill? Source: "He worked early domestic Wind Power projects during the early eighties installing a 2 MW Wind Turbine in North Carolina " ([2]), "On July 11, 1979, the town of Boone celebrated the dedication of what was then hailed as the world’s largest windmill. The windmill, perched atop Howard’s Knob, had been installed as part of a program by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy to develop wind power as a renewable energy source in response to the country's dependence on petroleum during the 1970s OPEC oil embargo and resulting gasoline shortages." ([3])
    • ALT1a: ... that NASA engineer William H. Robbins worked on what was the world's largest windmill when it was dedicated in 1979? Source: "He worked early domestic Wind Power projects during the early eighties installing a 2 MW Wind Turbine in North Carolina " ([4]), "On July 11, 1979, the town of Boone celebrated the dedication of what was then hailed as the world’s largest windmill. The windmill, perched atop Howard’s Knob, had been installed as part of a program by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy to develop wind power as a renewable energy source in response to the country's dependence on petroleum during the 1970s OPEC oil embargo and resulting gasoline shortages." ([5])
  • ALT2:... that NASA engineer William H. Robbins was in charge of a project that won an Emmy Award? Source: You can see him with the Emmy on page 218 of [6] I didn't nominate this hook in the first place because his obit says he won the Emmy in 1985, but the NASA sources confirm that it was in 1987.

• Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Kathy Karpan

Created by Hawkeye7 (talk). Self-nominated at 22:55, 9 October 2020 (UTC).

• Article is new (9 Oct), long enough (3686 characters), and within policy (referenced, no copyvios, etc). The article image is fair use, so can't be used here. The main issue is that the hook reads like a list, it would be better to pick one (or several connected) projects that he worked on, and focus on that. @Hawkeye7: could you propose an ALT please? Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 16:02, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
• The hook, even if pared down to a single accomplishment, is also very, very dull. A hook should "catch" the attention of readers not familiar with the subject, not simply state facts. --Animalparty! (talk) 20:15, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
  • I've supplied a couple of ALT hooks. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:28, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
    • @Hawkeye7: Getting there. On ALT1, it would be better to specify the year. On ALT2, it says in the article that he received the award on behalf of NASA, and it's not clear that he received it for a project he was in charge of. Also, perhaps @Animalparty: is more awake now? ;-) Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 18:58, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
    • In my opinion Alt 1 is the most interesting, but it seems a bit misleading to bury the basis of the hook among references: the article text states "wind turbine", not windmill. Either the hook or the article prose should be modified appropriately, perhaps place "windmill" in quotes, as a wind turbine is similar but not exactly the same as a windmill, though they may be called such colloquially. --Animalparty! (talk) 19:12, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
      • Tweaked the wording it the article to make it clearer for ALT2, and the hook of ALT1 to add the year it was dedicated. Per Windmill: A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines and other applications. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:24, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
        • @Hawkeye7: I'm OK with ALT2 after your article changes. With ALT1, please propose changes as a new ALT rather than changing the existing one. I also think you could make the sentence much shorter now (something like 'worked on the world's largest windmill in 1979'). Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 19:30, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

• Hello? Has this nomination been abandoned? Pinging nominator Hawkeye7 and reviewer Mike Peel to finish this up please. Yoninah (talk) 20:17, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

• This is waiting for @Hawkeye7: to respond to my last comment about ALT1. If there's no response, then I suggest going for ALT2. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:20, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

  I wasn't aware that action was required on my part. The rewritten hook is presented as ALT1a. A noted, "windmill" is used colloquially for wind turbines, and the term would be better understood in a DYK hook. Saying "worked on the world's largest windmill" would imply that it is still operational when it is not, and while DYK hooks don't have to be too accurate, I like to minimise the chance of it being pulled. Happy to go forward with main or ALT2 hooks. NASA's involvement in alternative energy technology might come as a surprise to many; it was abandoned in the 1980s when the price of petroleum fell. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:39, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

with either ALT1a or ALT2. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:46, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Hole in one after stroke

According to the referenced obituaries Robbins died at 82 in a nursing home from complications after a stroke suffered in 2005 at age 78/79. Yet, according to the funeral home obituary, he supposedly hit his first hole in one in the 9 months before his death. The cleveland.com obituary more plausibly states his age as 72. This indicates at a subtraction error in . I changed the age to 72 and the reference to . Grimgorg (talk) 01:27, 4 December 2020 (UTC)

References