Literally being star struck launched the career of Dr. Robert Hitt Jr., director of the Chesapeake Planetarium.
“During an undergraduate biology field trip we camped out on a moonless night in the Blue Ridge Mountains,” recalls Hitt. “I saw the most incredible stars you could ever imagine and thought right there that this was something I had to know about.”
During his junior year at ODU, the school completed its planetarium, which Hitt regularly visited along with Chesapeake’s planetarium, the first in the area and the first in the state to be operated by a public school system. Hitt went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology/education a masters in science/education and a Doctorate from VPI. He was the director of a planetarium in Weirton, West Virginia, and then to Chesapeake, Virginia, where he has served as the Chesapeake Planetarium director for over 50 years.
To make reservations for school programs call the Chesapeake Public School switchboard 757-547-0153