Science
John Mather
Astrophysicist and space-telescope scientist
Also known as John C. Mather
Photograph · Image credit
Who they are
John Mather is an astrophysicist whose work connects precision measurements of the cosmic background with large infrared space telescopes. NASA records his leadership roles on COBE and FIRAS and his service as Webb’s senior project scientist through 2023. His timeline appearance concerns the opening of Webb’s science program in 2022.
He links cosmology, scientific instrumentation and the delivery of a major observing capability.
Selected contributions
- Led COBE scientific work and the FIRAS instrument’s measurement of the microwave background spectrum.Source ↗
- Served as Webb senior project scientist during its 2022 first science release.Source ↗Source 2 ↗
Selected works
Academic paper · 2007
Nobel Lecture: From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and beyond
Mather recounts the development of COBE and explains how its microwave and infrared measurements changed cosmology. The lecture credits the people and instruments behind the mission as well as describing its scientific results.
Journal publication of the lecture associated with the 2006 Nobel Prize.
Reading scope & citation
Fresh complete abstract, author/date/DOI and publisher free-to-read indicator; full article not read.
DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.79.1331
In the timeline
Biography sources & portrait credit
- NASA Reveals Webb Telescope’s First Images of Unseen Universe ↗NASA
- John C Mather ↗NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- Nobel Lecture: From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and beyond ↗Reviews of Modern Physics / American Physical Society
Portrait credit
Christopher Michel. CC BY 2.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph. Cropped to 4:5, resized to 320 × 400 and converted to WebP.
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