Since cosmic X-ray radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, space-based telescopes are needed for X-ray astronomy. Applying himself to this problem, Giacconi worked on the instrumentation for X-ray astronomy; from rocket-borne detectors in the late 1950s and early 1960s, toUhuru, the first orbiting X-ray astronomy satellite, in the 1970s. Giacconi's pioneering research continued in 1978 with theEinstein Observatory, the first fully imaging X-ray telescope put into space, and later with theChandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched in 1999 and is still in operation.
Giacconi held the positions of professor of physics and astronomy (1982–1997) and research professor (from 1998 to his death in 2018) atJohns Hopkins University, and was a university professor. During the 2000s he wasprincipal investigator for the major Chandra Deep Field-South project withNASA'sChandra X-ray Observatory. Giacconi died on December 9, 2018.[2][3][4]
