WFMOS as a Pathfinder into the Future of Astronomy

Doug Simons (Gemini)


   The globalization of astronomy is undeniably upon us and will
only gain momentum in the years ahead. This new era of astronomy signals
the death knell of images like Hubble, alone at the eyepiece of a
telescope with a pipe in hand, single handedly probing the edges of the
universe. It is rare to see papers by single authors today and
publications made by large teams of astronomers have been demonstrated
to have the highest impact. The next generation of observatories like
ALMA or any of the ELT's under consideration now are all international
enterprises. Nearly two decades ago the Gemini international partnership
was formed, somewhat as an experiment in a new way of operating a
world-class observatory. Now, as historical barriers come down between
once disparate research communities, a new class of instrumentation is
emerging that will further shift the astronomy paradigm toward
international collaboration. WFMOS is a hallmark of that new generation
of instrumentation and functions as a pathfinder for even more such
instruments that will link observatories and astronomers around the
world.