AAMC Reporter: January 2008

A Collector's Space

Space hardware collector Steven C. Horii, M.D., at home with some of the gadgets he has amassed over the years.

Steven C. Horii, M.D., is pretty comfortable around technology. A radiology professor and director of the medical informatics group at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Horii has his hands on medical technology every day. But his passion for gadgets and gizmos stretches beyond the hospital quarters to a different universe altogether.

Horii has a house full of devices from another world—or at least, devices that have visited other worlds. As a collector and restorer of space hardware, he's no stranger to new frontiers.

Horii's interest took off during his frequent childhood visits to local planetariums.

"I loved everything there, but it was really the rockets that kept me coming back," Horii said. "The technology of their inside layers fascinated me. Some pieces were cut away and covered in plastic, so I could see the whole interior."

Years later, he came upon "radio row," a part of lower Manhattan where people could buy and sell surplus electronic equipment. Struck by a star tracker—a device that automatically finds stars—available for purchase, Horii began surveying this area and other places known to sell old space electronics. The search took Horii to government and military surplus sales, where he gradually acquired a formidable collection. Many of his pieces are guidance system hardware that can indicate the rocket's position in space. He also has a rocket engine, a space camera, and other assorted electronic devices.

"I am so amazed that you can actually own this stuff," Horii said. "Learning how these things work and the history behind them has really been exciting." Collecting and restoring old devices is certainly applicable to the medical profession, where Horii said people should be careful to hold on to outdated tools and machinery.

"Medicine is becoming more and more high-tech, but we aren't keeping the old pieces, and so we are losing some of this history," he said. "Preserving the older medical technologies is important so we don't throw our history away."

—By Elissa Fuchs

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