Astronomer: Gerry Nuegebauer

Gerry Nuegebauer was born in Gottingen, Germany in 1932. Gerry Nuegenbauer obtained his love for space from his father, Otto Nuegebauer, who was a mathemetician and an astronomer. He also found himself married to a scientist, Marcia Nuegebauer, who conducted important research on solar wind. Gerald graduated from Cornell University in 1954 with his A.B in physics. He then continued to attend Caltech in 1960 and graduated with his Ph.D in physics. Shortly after graduating from Cltech, he became the professor of physics there and was named the chairman of the Division of Physics, Math, and Astronomy. He also served in the military, working in the jet propulsion laboratory. A talented man of science, Nuegenbauer found his specialty in infrared studies of objects in space. His work contributed greatly to the infrared study of planets, as well as galaxies(including the Milky way) and stars. With help, he built a telescope that allowed him to complete a two-micron star survery in the infrared. This survery of the skies led to the discovery of thousands of new objects that could not be seen before. With his student, Erick Becklin, he discovered an object in the Orion Nebula that is now known to be the brightest object in the sky(following the sun of course). This source of enourmous infrared radiation was named the Becklin-Nuegebauer object. He also became a part of the team observing theIRAS, standing for Infrared Astronomy Satellite. This was an amazing opportunity for him, as this was the first infrared observatory in orbit. Thousands of new objects were detected by this satellite, including galaxies. Nuegenbauer was the first to produce an infrared image of the galactic center. He was also the director of the Palomar observatory and helped to actually build and design an observatory in Hawaii named the W.M Keck Observatory. At the W.M Keck observatory, he observed with others the stars being sucked into the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Other observations that Nuegebauer participated in included missions to various planets by the Spitzer as well as the Hubble, along with the Infrared Space Observatory. Gerry Nuegebauer was extremely succesful as an astronomer, as he not only conducted vital research, but also made many important discoveries in space. His many awards for his efforts include winning the Rumford Prize,the Herschel medal, the Bruce Medal, two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement medals, and the 1985 Space Science award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was named California scientist of the year in 1986 and was elected into multiple elite scientific societies. Gerry Nuegebauer is still alive today and enjoys the legacy of contributing great amounts of knowledge to our understanding of the universe.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Neugebauer
http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Neugebauer/Neugebauer.html
http://www.nndb.com/people/061/000171545/