Larry Lindsey Kimura (born June 29, 1946) is a

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

an linguist. He is a professor of the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a critically endangered Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family, originating in and native to the Hawaiian Islands. It is the native language of the Hawaiian people. Hawaiian, along with English, is an offi ...

and

Hawaiian studies Hawaiian studies is an academic discipline dedicated to the study of Hawaiians. It evolved in the second half of the 20th century partly in response to charges that traditional disciplines such as anthropology, history, English language, ethnology, ...

at the

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (UH Hilo) is a public university in Hilo, Hawaii, Hilo, Hawaiʻi. It is one of ten campuses of the University of Hawaiʻi system. It was founded as Hilo Center at Lyman Hall of the Hilo Boys School in 1945 and ...

in the

Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani, College of Hawaiian Language Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani (KHUOK) College of Hawaiian Language is one of nine colleges and programs at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. KHUOK offers BA, MA and PhD programs in Hawaiian language and related topics including linguistics, lite ...

Biography

Larry was born in

Waimea, Hawaii County, Hawaii Waimea is a landlocked community in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. Waimea is the center for ranching activities and Cowboy#Hawai'i, ''paniolo'' culture. The name Waimea means ''reddish water.'' For statistical purposes, the United States ...

, U.S.A., between his

Nisei is a Japanese language, Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the nikkeijin, ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants, or . The , or Second generation imm ...

father Hisao Kimura, who had immigrated from Hiroshima, Japan, and his Hawaiian mother, Elizabeth Lindsey, who had been brought up in a predominantly Hawaiian-speaking family. Kimura has been an advocate for the revival of the once-prestigious Hawaiian language from its near-

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

state, he was a co-founder of ʻAha Pūnana Leo.

Naming of space entities

Astronomers consulted with Kimura to create Hawaiian names for notable stellar objects discovered or imaged from Hawaii. He was part of the first committee naming the observed interstellar asteroid,

ʻOumuamua Oumuamua is the first confirmed interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Naming of comets#Current system, Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā O ...

Pōwehi (M87*)

In April 2019, astronomers operating the

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is a submillimetre-wavelength radio telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, US. The telescope is near the summit of Mauna Kea at . Its primary mirror is 15 metres (16.4 yards) across: it is the la ...

and

Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters (13,793 feet), part of the Mauna Kea Observatory. Operational since 1979, the telescope is a Pri ...

(part of the

Event Horizon Telescope The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a Astronomical interferometer, telescope array consisting of a global network of radio telescopes. The EHT project combines data from several very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) stations around Earth, wh ...

array), such as Doug Simons, approached Kimura to give a Hawaiian name to the recently imaged black hole M87* in the galaxy

Messier 87 Messier 87 (also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, generally abbreviated to M87) is a Type-cD galaxy, supergiant elliptical galaxy, elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo (constellation), Virgo that contains several trillion s ...

, in recognition of the fact that the telescope was on Mauna Kea. Kimura came up with the name "

Pōwehi Messier 87 (also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, generally abbreviated to M87) is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo that contains several trillion stars. One of the largest and most massive galaxies in th ...

", from ''pō'' 'darkness' or 'night' and ''wehi'' 'darkness' or 'adornment' to suggest "the adorned fathomless dark creation" or "embellished dark source of unending creation", found in the intensified form ''pōwehiwehi'' in the ''

Kumulipo In Hawaiian religion, the Kumulipo is the creation chant, first recorded in the 18th century. It also includes a genealogy of the members of Hawaiian royalty and was created in honor of Kalaninuiamamao and passed down orally to his daughter Alapa ...

'', a Hawaiian creation chant recorded in the 18th century. (''Pōwehiwehi'' means 'darkness streaked with glimmers of light', a generating agent of a stage in the development of life on earth as it advances toward the light, from ''pō'' 'darkness' and ''wehiwehi'' 'dappled shade'.) The governor of Hawaii declared 10 April 2019 to be "Pōwehi Day". Unlike Oumuamua, however, the name ''Pōwehi'' has not been submitted to the IAU, as the IAU has no provision for accepting names for galaxies or black holes.Seth Borenstein
Picture was clear, but black hole's name a little fuzzy
''AP News'', 12 April 2019

Notes

External links

ʻŌiwi TV

ʻAha Pūnana Leo: Language NestKa Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language
of th
University of Hawaiʻi at HiloNSF
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Linguists from the United States Hawaiian language Hawaiian studies Native American language revitalization University of Hawaiʻi faculty American academics of Japanese descent Hawaii people of Japanese descent {{US-linguist-stub Lindsey family

Biography

Naming of space entities

Pōwehi (M87*)

See also

Notes

External links