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James Edward Gunn | |
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 James E. Gunn (2000 photo) | |
| Born | (1938-10-21)October 21, 1938 (age 87) |
| Alma mater | Rice University Caltech |
| Known for | Gunn–Peterson trough |
| Awards | Heineman Prize (1988) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1994) Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation (2002) Crafoord Prize (2005) Gruber Prize (2005) National Medal of Science (2008) Bruce Medal (2013) Kyoto Prize (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy andAstrophysics |
| Institutions | Princeton University |
James Edward Gunn (born October 21, 1938) is theEugene Higgins Professor ofAstronomy atPrinceton University. Gunn's early theoretical work inastronomy has helped establish the current understanding of howgalaxies form, and the properties of thespace between galaxies. He also suggested important observational tests to confirm the presence ofdark matter in galaxies, and predicted the existence of aGunn–Peterson trough in thespectra of distantquasars.
Cosmology may look like a science, but it isn't a science... A basic tenet of science is that you can do repeatableexperiments, and you can't do that in cosmology.
Much of Gunn's later work has involved leadership in major observational projects. He developed plans for one of the first uses ofdigital camera technology for space observation, a project that led to theSloan Digital Sky Survey, the most extensive three-dimensional mapping of the universe ever undertaken. He also played a major role with theWide Field and Planetary Camera on theHubble Space Telescope.
Gunn graduated from A.C. Jones High School in Beeville, Texas in 1957. He earned his bachelor's degree atRice University inHouston, Texas, in 1961, and his Ph.D. from theCalifornia Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1965. He joined the faculty ofPrinceton University two years later. Subsequently, he worked at theUniversity of California at Berkeley andCaltech before returning to Princeton. He is married to the astronomerGillian Knapp and they have two children, Humberto and Marleny Gunn.
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