26 AND COUNTING / The Liebenberg Chronicles / Eclipse No. 15

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CLEMSON, South Carolina – Clemson University scientist Donald Liebenberg has personally witnessed and researched 26 total solar eclipses over the past 60-plus years.
Liebenberg, who has been an adjunct professor in the College of Science’s department of physics and astronomy since 1996, has literally travelled all over the world to enter the path of totality of solar eclipses. He has studied them from the ground, on ships in the middle of oceans, and in airplanes. He even watched one eclipse from the cabin of a Concorde supersonic airliner, where he was able to remain within the window of totality for an astounding 74 minutes.
An eclipse on June 21, 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia, was Liebenberg’s 15th eclipse. It is chronicled below.
All told, Liebenberg has spent almost three hours in totality, which surpasses anyone else on Earth.
The upcoming Aug. 21, 2017 event over Clemson will mark Liebenberg’s 27th eclipse. He has also witnessed several other eclipses that were nearly – but not quite – in the path of totality.
Please sit back and continue to enjoy these amazing adventures.
This map shows all 26 total solar eclipses that Donald Liebenberg has witnessed in person. Image courtesy of eclipse-chasers.com
IN THE WILDS OF AFRICA
Eclipse No. 15: June 21, 2001      Totality: 3 minutes, 29 seconds
Where: Lusaka, Zambia        Weather conditions: clear and dark skies
This eclipse occurred over Zambia on the day of summer solstice. It was my first eclipse of the new millennium.
Dr. Donald Liebenberg
My wife Norma and I joined a tour group and flew from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. After arriving, we settled into a nice hotel room with magnificent views of the city, which is situated on a high-altitude plateau more than a mile above sea level.
After a nice rest from our 18-hour flight, we headed to the airport and flew to Skukuza, where we stayed at a lodge on the private Sabi-Sabi game reserve. ...

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