Johns Hopkins has been involved in astrophysics research for over a century. The university's first physics professor, Henry A. Rowland, perfected machines in the late 19th century that enabled him to etch very closely spaced lines onto metal or glass surfaces. He used his machine, called a "ruling engine," to produce the first high-quality diffraction gratings, devices that separate light into its component wavelengths, much as a prism separates light into a rainbow. The gratings made practical the field known as "spectroscopy" or "spectral analysis," which is the foundation of analytical research in modern physics and astronomy.
From those beginnings, Johns Hopkins has emerged as a major force in astronomy research. During the 1950s, Hopkins instrument designer William Fastie developed a spectrometer that become a key component in numerous rocket-borne and space-borne telescopes.
In the late 1960's and 1970's, Hopkins astrophysicists Warren Moos, Paul Feldman, and Arthur Davidsen utilized improved versions of this spectrometer on numerous successful sounding rocket flights and conducted pioneering work in ultraviolet astronomy. For instance, in 1977, Davidsen used the spectrometer to take the first-ever ultraviolet spectrum of a source beyond our galaxy, the quasar 3C273. This achievement led to other important advances at Hopkins:
- In 1978, NASA selected the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope for
development and multiple flight opportunities on the Space Shuttle.
- In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Hopkins astronomers proposed successfully to have the Space Telescope Science Institute, the nerve center of the Hubble Space Telescope project, located on the Homewood campus. The university's growing reputation in astrophysics played a significant role in that successful effort. This important development forever changed the face of astrophysics at Hopkins, placing it at the center of research in the field.
In 1985, the Center for Astrophysical Sciences was formed at Hopkins to support, encourage, and oversee large astrophysics projects. The late 1980's and early 1990's saw the university attract a number of excellent young astronomers to the Physics and Astronomy Department, with wide-ranging interests in ground-based, space-based, and theoretical astrophysics.
The 1990's have been an unparalleled decade for both astronomy and Hopkins astrophysics. The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope and the university's first astronaut, research scientist Samuel Durrance, flew on successful Shuttle missions in 1990 and 1995. The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and the Hubble servicing missions in 1993 and 1997 all had substantial Hopkins involvement. Professor Holland Ford led the team that built the COSTAR corrective optics package for Hubble. He then used the corrected telescope in 1994 to provide the most convincing evidence to date for massive black holes in the centers of some galaxies. Ford is now in charge of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, an instrument to be installed in Hubble during the third servicing mission in 2000.
With the anticipated launch of the FUSE satellite in February 1999, Hopkins takes another giant step forward in not only building, but operating a space-based mission for NASA.
A product of the FUSE Project at Johns Hopkins University. (8/98)
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