[fitsbits] Happy Birthday, FITS!

[Don Wells]

Dear Friends-of-FITS,

I have always considered March 28th to be the birthday of FITS,
because the original Basic FITS Agreement was finalized on 1979-03-28.
So today is the 24th birthday of the FITS Agreement.  Those of you who
are not familiar with the history of how the Agreement was reached,
and how it came to be the standard for astronomical data, can consult
the following URL, which gives my version of that history:

    http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/documents/overviews/history.news

Eric Greisen, the other negotiator for the Agreement, has recently
produced his own version of that early history, plus his view of the
role and nature of the FITS Agreements during the past 24 years. His
version is to be a chapter in a book. Perhaps he could post the URL for
a copy of that chapter.

Best regards,
Don Wells [Chair, IAU FITS Working Group]
-- 
  Donald C. Wells    Scientist - GBT-PTCS Project     dwells at nrao.edu
                    http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~dwells
  National Radio Astronomy Observatory                +1-434-296-0277
  520 Edgemont Road,   Charlottesville, Virginia       22903-2475 USA
       (DCW is often in Green Bank, West Virginia, at +1-304-456-2146)