Giacconi, hero of astrophysics - at 87

Riccardo Giacconi at 87. All I know is what I read in the obituary. But he certainly seems like quite a hero of astroscience. As described by Dennis Overbye, Giacconi’s scientific work took him  along the electromagnetic spectrum from X-rays, to visible light, to radio waves. It appears as though he was like Leslie Groves, the engineering father of the A-Bomb. That is, he drove (often) projects to success, ones that had a profound effect on our view of the universe. Giacconi came to the US in the 1950s having achieved his PhD. While studying cosmic rays at the University of Milan, HE studied at Princeton and Indiana. Arriving in Cambridge, Mass. in 1959, he became part of a consultancy that helped NASA detect X-Rays from high altitude nuclear bomb tests. He later helped create satellites that acted as Geiger counters a-wing, with the purpose to explore cosmic rays bouncing off the moon. They found something else instead - X-rays emanating from the constellation Scorpio. In the 1970s his group launched the first X-ray astronomy satellite, Uhuru. X-Rays gathered thusly began to point astronomers to find emissions from matter entering suspected black holes. In 1973 at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center or Astrophysics (60 Garden St.) he worked on the Einstein X-Ray Observatory and the incredibly revelatory Chandra follow on satellite. He oversaw The Hubble Space Telescope project, which eventually included one of the greatest engineering Jerry -rigs of all time when space walking astronauts installed corrective optics on the Hubble. He went on to work on the VLT, which last summer detected evidence of a black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Under Dr. Giacconi’s leadership at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the NSF undertook work with other to run the ALMA in Chile, which had a hand as well last year’s black hole siting. It’s said he could be difficult to get along with. “The worst thing I could ever do is just agree with him,” one colleague said. Groves had a reputation akin.

A brilliant obit of astrophysicist Riccardo Giacconi, as only @overbye could tell it. Hang in for the references to Moby Dick and the Odyssey! https://t.co/bv4DuouNnX

— John Schwartz (@jswatz) December 14, 2018