Dr. X.X. Skip Newhall, 87, died Sunday, May 4. A long-time resident of the Santa Clarita Valley, Newhall was the great-great grandson of Henry Mayo Newhall.

Newhall was born April 15, 1938 in San Francisco to Scott and Ruth Newhall.

In the 1980s he legally changed his name to X.X. from his birth name of Nicholas.

Newhall was a member of the technical staff for Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena from 1961 to 1997.

His areas of work and research included spacecraft trajectory calculation, spacecraft mission operations and spacecraft orbit determination, along with planetary ephemeris development (creating a mathematical model of the motion of solar-system bodies), radio astronomy and very-long-baseline interferometry, as well as solar system astronomy and lunar laser ranging.

Newhall graduated “with Distinction” from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with a minor in Physics in 1960.
He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics in 1972 from California Institute of Technology.

After retiring from JPL, Newhall frequently gave presentations on scientific topics, such as “The Theory of Relativity and Interstellar Space Flight” and “Scaling: The Effects of Size on Structure and Motion.”

Newhall spent years on personal projects and science-related hobbies, including a project he started in 2004, taking the temperature at Death Valley National Park.

He submitted his findings in an annual report each March to the National Park Service.

His notable findings included recording a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit. On July 17, 2005, at about 5 p.m., tying the world record set in Death Valley in 1913.

“I wanted to prove Death Valley is hotter where I’m at in comparison to Furnace Creek,” he said, in an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, referring to the site of the park’s official visitor’s center, where the National Weather Service takes temperature readings.
Newhall took his temperature readings on the west side of Death Valley, somewhere in the salt basin.

He traveled to Death Valley every few weeks from the SCV in his trusty 1988 Toyota Celica. The car, which he maintained with regular oil changes racked up more than 500,000 original miles.

Newhall held a birthday party for his car every 100,000 miles, with the last party for the car held in 2009.

His Facebook page features a photo is of the Celica’s odometer registering 555,555.5 miles on Feb. 17, 2012.

Newhall enjoyed throwing parties, including his annual July 4 beer-tasting parties.

Another of Newhall’s passions was his “Leap Second Party.” The Los Angeles Daily News covered his party on Dec. 31, 2005.

His Leap Second Party held June 30, 2012 attracted more than 40 wine-drinking, hors d’oeuvres-nibbling friends and neighbors who listened attentively as Newhall explained the concept of the “leap second.”

His party offered guests a display of five highly accurate digital clocks to witness the moment when an extra second of time was added to the world’s 24-hour and one second day.

Leap seconds have been occurring since 1972, every one to seven years, as needed to maintain Earth time. A variety of factors, like a powerful earthquake, can cause the Earth to lose a fraction of a second, which adds up over time.

After many years of discussions by different standards bodies, in November 2022, at the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures, it was decided to abandon the leap second by or before 2035.

Newhall was an active supporter of various SCV nonprofits, including serving on the College of the Canyons Foundation Board of Directors 2010-2013. He also was involved in the early years with the Boys & Girls Club of the Santa Clarita Valley annual fundraising auction.
Newhall’s parents, Scott and Ruth Newhall, owned and edited The Signal newspaper in Santa Clarita between 1963 and 1988.

Newhall’s great-great grandfather, Henry Mayo Newhall (May 13, 1825 – March 13, 1882) was an American businessman whose extensive land holdings became the communities of Newhall, Saugus and Valencia, and the city of Santa Clarita. He was born in Saugus, Mass. and came to California in search of gold during the California Gold Rush. Delayed on his way to the gold fields, he opened an auction house in San Francisco, H.M. Newhall & Company.

Henry Newhall invested in rail companies and became president of the San Francisco and San Jose Rail Road. In 1870, when he and his partners sold the company to Southern Pacific Railroad, he joined its board of directors.

He purchased 143,000 acres of Mexican land grants in Santa Barbara County and Monterey County.

He also purchased the historic land grant 46,460-acre Rancho San Francisco in the Santa Clarita Valley for $2/acre. Henry Newhall granted a right-of-way to Southern Pacific Railroad through what is now Newhall Pass, and he also sold a portion of the land to the company which built the town it named Newhall. He named the first station on the rail line Saugus after his hometown of Saugus, Mass.

Henry Newhall’s heirs incorporated the Newhall Land and Farming Company, which oversaw the construction of Valencia. Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital was named in his honor.

Skip Newhall is survived by his wife, Lorena Sumaoang. They were married in 2014. He is also survived by his brother Tony Newhall. He was preceded in death by his parents, Scott and Ruth Newhall, sister Penny Newhall and brother Jonathan Newhall.

No information on services has been announced.

In a video on SCVTV.com Skip and Tony Newhall sat down with Leon Worden of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and talked about the origins of the Newhall family, The Signal Newspaper and how they had a hand in running the KKK out of Santa Clarita. View the video here.

https://scvtv.com/2024/05/29/skip-and-tony-newhall-the-family-name-legacy/