Sunday, June 21, 2009

Deceased--Frank J. Low

Frank J. Low

November 23rd, 1933 to June 11th, 2009

"Frank J. Low, Who Helped Drive Field of Infrared Astronomy, Dies at 75"

by Dennis Overbye

June 21st, 2009

The New York Times

Frank J. Low, who helped astronomers extend their vision beyond visible light into a vast realm of previously invisible colors, revolutionizing the study of the birth of planets, stars and galaxies, died on June 11 in Tucson. He was 75.

His death, after a long illness, was announced by the University of Arizona, where he had been a professor since 1965.

Starting as a young physicist at Texas Instruments in 1961, Dr. Low spent his career developing devices to detect and measure infrared, or "heat," radiation from stars and getting them deployed in telescopes, airplanes and satellites.

Using Dr. Low's devices and their successors, astronomers have been able to peer through dust clouds to find the birthplaces of stars; discover galaxies and quasars invisible to ordinary telescopes; discern rings of dust and, recently, even planets around other stars; and study what is believed to be residual heat left over from the Big Bang.

NASA's next big effort, the James Webb Space Telescope, destined for a 2014 launching, is an infrared space telescope built in a design Dr. Low created.

Full article here:

http://philosophyofscienceportal.blogspot.com/2009/06/deceased-frank-j-low.html