Lyman Spitzer Jr. (June 26, 1914 – March 31, 1997) was an American

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

, astronomer and mountaineer. As a scientist, he carried out research into

star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions", collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, star formation includ ...

plasma physics Plasma ()πλάσμα
, Henry George Liddell, R ...

, and in 1946, conceived the idea of telescopes operating in outer space. Spitzer invented the stellarator plasma device and is the namesake of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

's Spitzer Space Telescope. As a mountaineer, he made the first ascent of Mount Thor, with Donald C. Morton.

Early life and education

Spitzer was born to a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

family in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Lyman Spitzer Sr. and Blanche Carey (née Brumback). Through his paternal grandmother, he was related to inventor

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney h ...

. Spitzer graduated from Scott High School. He then attended

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = M ...

in 1929 and went on to

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, where he graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

in 1935 and was a member of Skull and Bones. During a year of study at Cambridge University, he was influenced by Arthur Eddington and the young Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Returning to the U.S., Spitzer received his Ph.D. in physics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

in 1938 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "The spectra of late supergiant stars", under the direction of Henry Norris Russell.

Mountaineering

In 1965, Spitzer and Donald Morton became the first to climb Mount Thor , located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. As a member of the

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...

, Spitzer established the "Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Climbing Award" (Now called the "Cutting Edge Grant") which gives $12,000 to several mountain climbing expeditions annually.

Science

Spitzer's brief time as a faculty member at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

was interrupted by his wartime work on the development of

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

. In 1947, at the age of 33, he succeeded Russell as director of Princeton University Observatory, an institution that, virtually jointly with his contemporary and friend Martin Schwarzschild, he continued to head until 1979. Spitzer's research centered on the

interstellar medium In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter and radiation that exist in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as dust and cosmic rays. It fills interstella ...

, to which he brought a deep understanding of plasma physics. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was among the first to recognize

as an ongoing contemporary process. His monographs, "Diffuse Matter in Space" (1968) and "Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium" (1978) consolidated decades of work, and themselves became the standard texts for some decades more. Spitzer was the founding director of Project Matterhorn, Princeton University's pioneering program in controlled thermonuclear research, renamed in 1961 as Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He was an early proponent of space optical astronomy in general, and in particular of the project that became

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ver ...

. In 1981, Spitzer became a founding member of the

World Cultural Council The World Cultural Council is an international organization whose goals are to promote cultural values, goodwill and philanthropy among individuals. The organization founded in 1981 and based in Mexico, has held a yearly award ceremony since 19 ...

Death

Spitzer died suddenly on March 31, 1997, after completing a regular day of work at

. He was buried at Princeton Cemetery and was survived by wife Doreen Canaday Spitzer, four children, and ten grandchildren. Among Spitzer's four children is neurobiologist Nicholas C. Spitzer, who is currently the professor and vice chair in neurobiology at UC San Diego.

Honors

Awards * Fellow of the American Physical Society (1941) * Member of the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

(1952) * Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

(1953) * Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1953) * Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...

(1959) * Bruce Medal (1973) * Henry Draper Medal of the

(1974) * James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1975) * Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1978) * National Medal of Science (1979) * Franklin Medal (1980) * Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society) (1980) *

Crafoord Prize The Crafoord Prize is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. The Prize is awarded in partnership between the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Crafoord Fo ...

(1985) Named after him *

Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

2160 Spitzer Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film di ...

* Spitzer Space Telescope * Lyman Spitzer Library in Davenport College, Yale University *Lyman Spitzer Building at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, NJ * Lyman Spitzer Planetarium at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, VT * Answer to the final question on NTN Buzztime's Showdown on September 16, 2008. * Spitzer Building in Toledo, Ohio. * Landau-Spitzer Award (American Physical Society)

References

External links

NASA biographyOral history interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 8 April 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives

Oral History interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 15 March 1978, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives

Oral history interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 10 May 1978, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives

Oral History interview transcript with Lyman Spitzer on 27 November 1991, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives

Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitzer, Lyman 1914 births 1997 deaths American people of German descent American astronomers Phillips Academy alumni Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty National Medal of Science laureates Burials at Princeton Cemetery Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Foreign Members of the Royal Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Yale College alumni Yale University faculty Founding members of the World Cultural Council American plasma physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory people Spitzer Space Telescope Members of the American Philosophical Society