Dr. John C. Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. His research centers on infrared astronomy and cosmology. As an
NRC postdoctoral fellow at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (New York City), he led the proposal efforts for the Cosmic Background Explorer (74-76), and came to GSFC to be the Study Scientist (76-88), Project Scientist (88-98), and also the Principal Investigator for the Far IR Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) on COBE. He showed that the cosmic microwave background radiation has a blackbody spectrum within 50 ppm. As Senior Project Scientist (95-present) for the James Webb Space Telescope, he leads the science team, and represents scientific interests within the project management. He has served on advisory and working groups for the National Academy of Sciences, NASA, and the NSF (for the ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and for the CARA, the Center for Astrophysical Research in the Antarctic).
Read more about John Mather on his web site.
Research
Cosmology, Far IR astronomy and instrumentation, Fourier transform spectroscopy, large space telescopes, interplanetary dust, diffuse background radiation
Projects
JWST, James Webb Space Telescope
COBE, Cosmic Background Explorer
WISE, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
MPF, Microlensing Planet Finder
SAFIR, Single Aperture Far InfraRed telescope
SPECS, Submillimeter Probe of the Evolution of Cosmic Structure
Positions and Appointments
Senior Astrophysicist and Goddard Fellow
Senior Project Scientist, James Webb Space Telescope
Education
1968 B.A. (Physics), Swarthmore College, (Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa)
1974 Ph.D. (Physics), Univ. of California at Berkeley (4.0 GPA)
Awards
Open Scholarship (honorary), Swarthmore, 1964-68
Putnam national math contest, 1967, 30th place nationwide
Highest possible score (990), physics Grad Records, 1968
Highest Honors and Phi Beta Kappa, Swarthmore 1968
NSF Fellowship and honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellowship 1968-70
Hertz Foundation Fellowship, 1970-74
Group Achievement Award, GSFC, 1978
Exceptional Achievement Award, GSFC, 1986
Certificate of Recognition, Inventions and Contributions, GSFC, 1986
John C. Lindsay Memorial Award (NASA-GSFC), 1990
Group Achievement Award (NASA-GSFC), 1990
NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award, 1991
NASA Group Achievement Award, 1991
Rotary National Space Achievement Award, 1991
National Air and Space Museum Trophy, 1991
Aviation Week and Space Technology Laurels, 1992, for Space/Missiles
Discover Magazine Technology Award finalist, 1993
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space Science Award, 1993
Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, American Astronomical Society and American
Institute of Physics, 1993 (presented Jan. 1994)
Senior Astrophysicist (3104 position), 1993, GSFC
Goddard Fellow, 1994, GSFC
Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, Swarthmore College, 1994
John Scott Award, City of Philadelphia, 1995
Rumford Prize, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1996
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1996
Hall of Fame, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 1997
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1997
GSFC Group Achievement Award, Next Generation Space Telescope, 1997
Marc Aaronson Memorial Prize, 1998
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1998
Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, Franklin Institute, 1999
NASA/GSFC Outstanding Teamwork award for NGST SEB, 1999
Newton (NJ) High School Hall of Fame, 2003
Presidential Rank Distinguished Performance award, NASA, 2003
George W. Goddard Award, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, 2005
Cosmology Prize, with COBE Team, Peter Gruber Foundation, 2006
Nobel Prize in Physics, with George Smoot, 2006
Robinson prize, University of Newcastle, 2008
Presidential Rank Distinguished Performance award, NASA, 2008
D. Sci. (Honorary), University of Maryland, College Park, 2008
Fellow, Optical Society of America, 2009
Publications
J.C. Mather and J. Boslough, "The Very First Light," Basic Books, New York, 1996, 2008.
D.J. Fixsen, E.S. Cheng, J.M. Gales, J.C. Mather, R.A. Shafer, and E.L. Wright, "The Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum from the Full COBE FIRAS Data Set," Astrophysical Journal, 473, 576, 1996.
R.A. Shafer, J.C. Mather, D.J. Fixen, K.A. Jensen, W.T. Reach, E. Dwek, and E.S. Cheng, "The Far Infrared Background as Measured by COBE FIRAS I: Limits from Dark Sky Measurements," Astrophysical Journal, 470, 681, 1996.
N.N. Gor'kavyi, L.M. Ozernoy, and J.C. Mather, "A New approach to Dynamical Evolution of Interplanetary Dust," Astrophysical Journal, 474, 496, 1996.
D.J. Fixsen, G. Hinshaw, C.L. Bennett, J.C. Mather, "The Spectrum of the CMB Anisotropy from the Combined COBE FIRAS and DMR Observations," Astrophysical Journal, 486, 1997.
Fixsen, D.J., Weiland, J.L., Brodd, S., Hauser, M.G., Kelsall, T., Leisawitz, D.T., Mather, J.C., Jensen, K.A., Shafer, R.A., and Silverberg, R.F., "The Comparison of the FIRAS and DIRBE Calibrations," ApJ, 490, 482, 1997
Fixsen, D. J., Mather, J. C., "The Spectral Results of the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer Instrument on COBE," ApJ, 581, Issue 2, pp. 817-822, 2002
Ipatov, Sergei I., Mather, John C., "Migration of Trans-Neptunian Objects to the Terrestrial Planets," Earth, Moon, and Planets, v. 92, Issue 1, p. 89-98 (2003).
Daniel F. Lester, Harold W. Yorke, John C. Mather, "Does the Lunar Surface Still Offer Value As a Site for Astronomical Observatories?" Space Policy, May 2004
Benford, D., Amato, M., Mather, J., Moseley, S.H.,Jr., and Leisawitz, D., "Mission Concept for the Single Aperture Far-Infrared (SAFIR) Observatory," Astrophysics and Space Science, 294, 177-212, 2004
Kashlinsky, A.; Arendt, R. G.; Mather, J.; Moseley, S. H., "Tracing the first stars with fluctuations of the cosmic infrared background," Nature, Volume 438, Issue 7064, pp. 45-50 (2005)
