James Richard Houck (October 5, 1940 – September 18, 2015) was the Kenneth A. Wallace Professor of

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

. Houck pioneered

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

observational astronomy, designing detectors and spectrographs that were flown on sounding rockets in the 1960s, on airborne observatories in the 1970s, and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) in 1984 and the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2003. He also led development of Cornell's instrumentation for the Palomar Observatory

Hale Telescope The Hale Telescope is a , 3.3 reflecting telescope at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, US, named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1928, he orchestrated the planning, de ...

. Houck's research outside instrumentation has focused on the mechanisms responsible for energy generation in Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs), of which he was a discoverer using the IRAS satellite. Houck has also studied the formation of dust in the early Universe. Houck was a member of the Cornell University Senate and served as the designer and founding director of the Hartung–Boothroyd Observatory. He was married to Elaine Vezzani, with whom he had two children, until her death in 2011. Houck is buried at

Lake View Cemetery Lake View Cemetery is a privately owned, nonprofit garden cemetery located in the cities of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and East Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1869, the cemetery was favored by wealthy families during the Gil ...

in Ithaca, New York.

Honors

NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (abbreviated ESAM) was established by NASA on September 15, 1961, when the original ESM was divided into three separate awards. Under the current guidelines, the ESAM is awarded for unusually sign ...

(1984) "for outstanding contributions to IRAS, including efforts in the rebuilding of the telescope focal plane assembly and continuing scientific analysis." *

(2005) "for his work on the Spitzer Space Telescope infrared spectrograph." * Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation (2008) "for his extraordinary contributions over nearly four decades to major instrumentation for infrared astronomy."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houck, James R. 1940 births 2015 deaths Cornell University faculty American astrophysicists Carnegie Mellon University alumni Cornell University alumni People from Mobile, Alabama:)