We have been developing a Compton scatter polarimeter for measuring the lin
ear polarization of hard X-rays (100-300 keV) from astrophysical sources. A
laboratory prototype polarimeter has been used to successfully demonstrate
the reliability of our Monte Carlo simulation code and to demonstrate our
ability to generate a polarized photon source in the lab. Our design concep
t places a self-contained polarimeter module on the front-end of a a 5-inch
position-sensitive PMT (PSPMT), We are currently working on the fabricatio
n of a science model based on this PSPMT concept. Although the emphasis of
our development effort is towards measuring hard X-rays from solar flares,
our design has the advantage that it is sensitive over a rather large field
-of-view (> 1 steradian), a feature that makes it especially attractive for
gamma-ray burst studies.