Walter Orr Roberts is shown taking photos of the solar corona with the 5-inch coronagraph he built with the assistance of Hobart P. French and his Harvard Ph.D. advisor Donald Howard Menzel. This, only the third coronagraph in the world and the first in the western hemisphere, was made possible by Don Menzel's entrepreneurial skills and Walt's technical capabilities. Walt and his wife began their six-year residency at "The Fremont Pass Station of the Harvard College Observatory" on August 15, 1940. It was here that Walter Orr Roberts discovered the link between solar flares and radio interference, and during World War II the military used the information he gathered to ensure uninterrupted communications.
