Rodger Evans Doxsey (March 11, 1947 – October 13, 2009)Overbye, Dennis

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', October 18, 2009. Accessed October 20, 2009. was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

who made major contributions to the scientific and operational success 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, succeeding t ...

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 versa ...

(HST). He joined the HST Project at the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for th ...

(STScI), in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, in 1981, and was head of the Hubble Missions Office at his death.''Baltimore Sun''
October 15, 2009. "Rodger Doxsey, one of space telescope team's first leaders, dies at 62", Of Doxsey, STScI Director

Matt Mountain Charles Mattias ("Matt") Mountain is currently the President of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) which designs, builds, and operates telescopes and observatories for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Na ...

said, "Rodger was the heart and soul of Hubble here at the Institute.... He ... knew everything about the space telescope, from the smallest anomaly to the breadth of the extraordinary science delivered by the telescope he had worked with for over 28 years."

Career at MIT

Dr. Doxsey was born in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, raised in

Cleveland Heights, Ohio Cleveland Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs. The city's population was 45,312 at the 2020 census. As of the 2010 census, Cleveland Heights was ranked the 8th larges ...

and earned his Ph.D. in physics at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. After his doctorate, he worked at MIT on the third NASA Small Astronomy Satellite (SAS 3), an X-ray astronomy mission, and then on the first High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO 1), which was launched in August 1977.

Work at STScI

The Institute's first director,

Riccardo Giacconi Riccardo Giacconi ( , ; October 6, 1931 – December 9, 2018) was an Italian-American Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist who laid down the foundations of X-ray astronomy. He was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University. Biography Born in ...

, hired Doxsey nine years before the HST launch in 1990, to be the mission operations scientist. During the following years he was responsible for mission science specifications and requirements, data calibration, operational planning and scheduling, as well as the actual day-to-day commanding of the observatory. Doxsey worked on the development of new, state-of-the-art instruments for HST with NASA's

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

, which contributed to the enormous advance made in Hubble's scientific capabilities after launch, by replacing, in the course of several

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

visits from 1993 to May 2009, the original suite of instruments which had been specified and designed on the basis of technology that was many years old by the time HST finally became operational. Doxsey was also responsible for hiring many of the STScI's staff.

Awards and honors

Among Doxsey's many awards and honors, especially notable are: *1991: Awarded the

NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal The NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal is an award similar to the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, but awarded to non-government personnel. This is the highest honor NASA awards to anyone who was not a government employee when the service ...

, the highest honor the Agency can give a nongovernmental employee. The citation noted his "exceptional accomplishments and contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope", and implementation of the systems needed to accomplish those ends.Staff
"NASA Awards Hubble Space Telescope Mission Planners"
HubbleSite press release dated April 3, 1991. Accessed October 20, 2009. *2004: Awarded the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

George Van Biesbroeck Prize The George Van Biesbroeck Prize is an award for long-term achievements in the field of astronomy. According to the American Astronomical Society awards website; "The Van Biesbroeck prize is normally awarded every two years and honors a living indi ...

, citing Dr. Doxsey's "outstanding, unselfish dedication" to making Hubble "one of the most scientifically productive telescopes of all time."

References

External links

Rodger Doxsey
- Daily Telegraph obituary
Hubble Project Pioneer Rodger Doxsey Passes Away
- STScI Press release, October 14, 2009
Webcast of Rodger Doxsey Award
- STScI Webcast of the inaugural presentation of the Rodger E. Doxsey Science Systems Engineering Achievement Award, January 7, 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Doxsey, Rodger 1947 births 2009 deaths Scientists from Schenectady, New York 20th-century American physicists American astronomers MIT Department of Physics alumni People from Cleveland Heights, Ohio People from Towson, Maryland