American astrophysicist and cosmologist (born 1946)
John Cromwell Mather (born August 7, 1946) is an Americanastrophysicist ,cosmologist andNobel Prize in Physics laureate for his work on theCosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) withGeorge Smoot .
This work helped cement theBig Bang theory of the universe. According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE-project can also be regarded as the starting point forcosmology as a precision science."[ 1]
Mather is a senior astrophysicist at theNASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) inMaryland and adjunct professor of physics at theUniversity of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences . In 2007,Time magazineTime magazine
Mather is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to PresidentGeorge W. Bush in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for theDepartment of Energy 'sOffice of Science , theNational Science Foundation , and theNational Institute of Standards and Technology .[ 2]
Mather served as the senior project scientist for theJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST) from 1995 until 2023, when he was succeeded byJane Rigby .[ 3]
In 2014, Mather delivered an address on the James Webb Space Telescope at the secondStarmus Festival in the Canary Islands.
Education and initial research [ edit ] 1964Newton High School , Newton, New Jersey[ 4] 1968B.S. (Physics),Swarthmore College (Highest Honors) 1974Ph.D. (Physics),University of California, Berkeley 1974–1976 (NRC Postdoctoral Fellow),Columbia University Goddard Institute for Space Studies 1964–1968Swarthmore College Open Scholarship (honorary) 1967William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition , 30th place nationwide 1968 Highest possible score (990),physics Grad Records 1968–1970 NSF Fellowship and honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellowship 1970–1974 Fellow,Hertz Foundation 1974–1976 Postdoctoral Fellow,NRC 1990NASA GSFC John C. Lindsay Memorial Award 1991 Rotary National Space Achievement Award 1991National Air and Space Museum Trophy 1992Aviation Week and Space Technology Laurels for Space/Missiles 1993Discover Magazine Technology Award finalist 1993American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space Science Award 1993American Astronomical Society andAmerican Institute of Physics Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics 1994 Fellow,Goddard Space Flight Center 1994Doctor of Science ,honoris causa 1995City of Philadelphia John Scott Award 1996American Academy of Arts and Sciences Rumford Prize 1996 Fellow,American Physical Society 1997Aviation Week and Space Technology Hall of Fame 1997 Member,National Academy of Sciences 1998Marc Aaronson Memorial Prize 1998 Member,American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1999Franklin Institute Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics 2005Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers George W. Goddard Award 2006Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation Prize in Cosmology 2006Nobel Prize in Physics 2007 Fellow,SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 2007American Academy of Achievement , Golden Plate Award[ 5] 2008 Robinson Prize[ 6] 2008Doctor of Science ,honoris causa 2008, Commencement Speaker,University of Maryland Winter Commencement 2010 India General President Gold Medal[ 7] 2010Fellow of the Optical Society of America 2011Doctor of Science ,honoris causa [ 8] 2020 Elected a Legacy Fellow of theAmerican Astronomical Society .[ 9] 2023 Joseph Priestly Award,Dickinson College Mather, J. C."Far Infrared Spectrometry of the Cosmic Background Radiation" ,University of California Berkeley ,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ,United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency theAtomic Energy Commission ), (Jan. 1974). Mather, J. C.; Albrecht, A.; et al."Report of the Dark Energy Task Force" ,Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory ,United States Department of Energy , (2006). Mather, J. C.;Boslough, John; the very first light; 1996,2008 Basic Books Mather is the Science Director of the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists.
1901–1925 1926–1950 1951–1975 1976–2000 2001–
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