Gerry Neugebauer was known for his work in scientific studies of infared astronomy. Neugebauer was born in Göttingen, Germany and is the son of Otto Neugebauer, an Austrian-American mathematician and historian of science, and Grete Bruck. After moving to the United States at age seven, he received his A.B. in physics from Cornell University in 1954 and his Ph.D. in physics from Caltech in 1960, with a thesis on the photoproduction of negative and positive pions from deuterium.
Showing his high mental capacity throughout his scholarly years, Neugebauer received his Artium Baccalaureatus degree in physics at Cornell University in 1954 and then receiving his doctorate in the same subject from the California Institute of technology four years later in 1960. Neugebauer played a major role in the design and construction of the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
Among Neugebauer's numerous awards are two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals (1972, 1984), the 1985 Space Science Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the 1985 Richmyer Lecture Award, the 1986 Rumford Prize, the 1996 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, the 1998 Herschel Medal, and the 2010 Bruce Medal. He was named California Scientist of the Year for 1986 by the California Museum of Science and Industry, and he was elected to the National Academy of the Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Astronomical Society.
Astrophysicist Gerry Neugebauer headed a small group of Caltech scientists who were at the forefront of early infrared studies of the planets. Informally called the "infrarednecks", Neugebauer and his colleagues designed and built new instruments and observational facilities, and discovered hundreds of new infrared sources in the sky. Neugebauer provided the first infrared study of the center of our galaxy, completed a renowned two-micron sky survey with Robert B. Leighton, and oversaw the NASA, British, and Dutch Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) project, a space-based observatory that surveyed the entire sky at infrared wavelengths.
Neugebauer played a major role in the design and construction of the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Among Neugebauer's numerous awards are two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals (1972, 1984), the 1985 Space Science Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the 1985 Richmyer Lecture Award, the 1986 Rumford Prize, the 1996 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, the 1998 Herschel Medal, and the 2010 Bruce Medal. Neugebauer continued to develop and expand infrared, sub-millimeter, and millimeter wavelength observational astronomy for decades. He was named California Scientist of the Year for 1986 by the California Museum of Science and Industry, and he was elected to the National Academy of the Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Astronomical Society.
Gerry Neugebauer has commented on the ‘Planet X’ in many notable magazines and newspapers. Planet X is either the 10th planet or the unknown planet. Gerry commented that we do not know what it is, all that we know is that it is a large mass(about the size of Jupiter) that we can see in the distant galaxy.
Right now, Gerry lives in Arizona with his wife Marcia Neugebauer, a geophysicist who has been working at the forefront of solar wind research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the local area.
FUN FACT: Gerry is pronounced ‘Gary’ not ‘Jerry’.
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