George carruthers biography
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George Carruthers
(1939-2020)
Who Was George Carruthers?
Scientist George Carruthers built his first telescope at the age of 10. He earned his Ph.D. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at the University of Illinois in 1964 and began working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. His telescope and image converter was used to identify molecular hydrogen in space and his ultraviolett camera/spectrograph was used bygd Apollo 16 during the flight to the måne.
Early Life
Carruthers was born on October 1, 1939, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the eldest of George and Sophia Carruthers' four children. George Carruthers, Sr. was a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Air Corps, and encouraged his son's early interests in science. bygd the age of 10, the ung Carruthers had constructed his own telescope with cardboard tubing and mail-order lenses he bought with money he earned as a delivery boy.
Carruthers' father died when the boy was only 12. After his death, the family moved to Chicago,
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George Carruthers
George Carruthers was an engineer and astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, where he led the Ultraviolet Measurement Group in the Space Sciences Division. He recieved international recognition for his research on ultraviolet radation in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
He was the principal scientist responsible for the development of a special camera that made the trip to the moon aboard Apollo 16 in 1972. The camera was designed to study the earth’s upper atmosphere, interplanetary and interstellar space, stars, and galaxies by making observations of light in the far-ultraviolet. Later versions of the camera have flown on Skylab 4, two space shuttle flights, and the ARGOS satellite.
Dr. Carruthers was also involved in numerous community-based organizations where he encouraged students of all races to pursue their interests in the sciences. Many high school and college students worked as research apprentices with him, assembling equipment and
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Astronautical engineer and astronomer George Robert Carruthers, a name well-known and dearly regarded in the space science community, and a good friend of the National Air and Space Museum, passed away on Saturday, December 26 after a long illness. His fame derives in part from the fact that he developed and built a compact and powerful ultraviolet electronographic telescope, which became the first (and still the only) astronomical instrument sent to the Moon. It was placed on the lunar surface on Apollo 16 in 1972, and it performed extremely well, leading to enhanced knowledge of the Earth’s outermost atmosphere and of the vast spaces between the stars and galaxies invisible to the eye.
The flight-backup of that astronomical instrument was first displayed at the Museum in the mid-1990s. It was first set out on the lunar surface of our Apollo Lander exhibit on the east end of the building next to the Lunar Module LM-2, and more recently in the Apollo to the Moon gallery, saf