Hubble Space Telescope (Spacecraft)

Interview with Grant Tremblay, astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Tremblay recalls his childhood in Maine, his early interest in astronomy, and the formative experience of seeing a space shuttle launch. He discusses his undergraduate studies in physics and astronomy at University of Rochester. Tremblay then describes his time as a research assistant at the Space Telescope Science Institute before entering a PhD program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he did thesis work on cool core clusters. Tremblay discusses his postdoctoral fellowship at the European Southern Observatory, as well as his time working under Meg Urry as a NASA Einstein Fellow at the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. He details his involvement with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in addition to the Lynx X-Ray Observatory. Tremblay describes his role as vice-chair for NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee, his involvement in the American Astronomical Society, and the New Great Observatories Community Coalition which he founded in 2020. Tremblay also speaks about his involvement in space policy, issues around congressional support, and the importance of continued government investment in science. 

This is an interview with Edward Weiler, who served as chief scientist of the Hubble Space Telescope from 1979 to 1998, as NASA Associate Administrator for science activities from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2008 to 2011, and as director of the Goddard Space Flight Center from 2004 to 2008. The interview focuses primarily on his work relating to Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope. Subjects addressed include his work developing international collaboration, and he explains the value of his strong working relationship with David Southwood of the European Space Agency. Weiler details his involvement with the correction of the spherical aberration afflicting Hubble’s primary mirror. He highlights NASA Administrator Dan Goldin’s role in establishing the scope of the Webb telescope, and he offers his views on the project’s troubles and the 2010 review chaired by John Casani that diagnosed sources of its cost growth and schedule slippage. Weiler also recounts his motivations for retiring from NASA in 2011, his activities since then, and he expresses his perspective on matters such as human space flight, lunar exploration, and the value of international partnerships in space science.

In this interview, astronomer Peter Jakobsen discusses his involvement with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes during his life-long career at the European Space Agency (ESA). He recounts his early childhood growing up in Cincinnati and later returning to his hometown in Denmark, where he attended the University of Copenhagen. He reflects on his time at the Laboratoire d’Astronomie Spatiale in Marseille during his Master’s degree and his time at Berkeley working in the Space Astrophysics Group led by Stu Bowyer. Jakobsen discusses his job as Project Scientist for the European involvement in the Hubble Space Telescope, the development of ESA’s Faint Object Camera, and the discovery of the spherical aberration. He details his role in the development of COSTAR and Hubble’s repair missions. Jakobsen recalls being skeptical of the initial talks for the Next Generation Space Telescope, but later taking on a key role for the European side of the project. He also recalls the competition between the contractors working on the initial design phase for NIRSpec. Jakobsen gives an account of his last years at ESA and the conditions that led to his retirement from the agency in 2011. He gives his perspective on Webb’s launch and reflects on the budget and schedule delay concerns. He discusses his post-retirement technical work and the guaranteed observing time program for JWST. Towards the end of the interview, Jakobsen describes his current focus with NIRSpec and his reflections on the future of astronomy.

In this interview, astronomer Massimo Stiavelli discusses his involvement with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. He recounts his early childhood growing up in Italy, higher education at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, and his interest in elliptical galaxies. He reflects on his time as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University, his time at the European Southern Observatory, and his role deriving signs from the Hubble Space Telescope’s aberrated data. Stiavelli discusses his position with the European Space Agency in Baltimore, along with the initial developments of the Next Generation Space Telescope. He also offers his perception on the Space Telescope Science Institute and the scientists working there. He recalls his early involvement with the NGST’s Science Working Group, his role as Project Scientist, and his perspective on the growing schedule and budget delays that led to Congressional hearings. Stiavelli also recalls the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the final stages of Webb’s development, the launch, and its current operation. The interview concludes with an overview of Stiavelli’s views on the future of cosmology and the impact of JWST.

Interview with Joel Primack, Distinguished Professor of Physics Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Primack discusses what he has been able to do in his free time since his retirement, including writing papers, giving lectures, hosting meetings at UC Santa Cruz, leading international collaborations, and supervising research. He sees the new data coming from the Vera Rubin Observatory and the Gaia Survey as exciting developments in the realm of astrophysics, and he is looking forward to adding to this data when we begin receiving images from the James Webb Space Telescope. Primack discusses his work with various simulations that he has utilized to understand what may be occurring within galaxies, and the growing importance of astrobiology in these simulations. He takes us back into his early years in Montana, where his passion for science began to develop, and how his high school education and internships led him to Princeton University for his undergraduate career. While at Princeton, Primack took classes from John Wheeler, worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab under Bill Pickering, and participated in the Students for a Democratic Society, where his interest in the combination of politics and science began to grow. Primack discusses how important the communication between politicians and scientists is, and he saw this need for improved communication early on. He started the Congressional Science and Technology Fellowship program as a preliminary way to work on the relationship between government and science. He then recounts his experiences at Harvard University and his eventual move to Santa Cruz, where he continued working on dark matter and dark energy, among other things. He remarks on his relationship and work with Nancy Abrams, including the courses they taught and the books they wrote together. He ends the interview talking about his family, his recovery from cancer, and the people he’s looking forward to working with in the future.

In this interview, Sandra Faber, Professor Emerita in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UC Santa Cruz and Astronomer Emerita at the University of California Observatories discusses her career and her involvement in various projects. Faber describes the relationship between these appointments, and she describes some of the benefits that remote work has allowed during the Covid-19 pandemic. She describes the DEIMOS spectrograph project as an outgrowth from her interest in galaxy formation and the centrality of steady state theory to this research. Faber discusses the importance of NSF support for her work, and she explains some of the cultural sensitivities in setting up a major telescope project in Hawaii. She explains the difference between ancient and more recent galaxy formation, and she explains how the next generation of spectrographs has surpassed what DEIMOS has been able to achieve. Faber discusses the famous optical flaw that threatened the viability of the Hubble Telescope and how this issue was resolved and the import of the CANDELS project. She explains the value of advanced computing for black hole quenching models, and she discusses her long-term collaboration with Chinese scientists and some of the political and international considerations inherent in these partnerships. Faber describes the origins of the Osterbrock Leadership Program and its value for fostering the careers of the next generation of scientists. At the end of the interview, Faber describes the meaning of “Cosmic Knowledge,” and she explains how this concept of humanity’s greater appreciation of our place in the universe can have ethically positive and long-lasting impacts beyond astronomy.

Interview with Sean O’Keefe, Professor at the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. O’Keefe describes moving around as a child when his father worked for the Navy. He discusses his undergraduate work at Loyola in New Orleans, and he explains his interest in pursuing a career in public service in the post-Watergate, post-Vietnam era when there was much cynicism about working for the government. O’Keefe describes his participation in the Presidential Management Intern Program and his work for the Department of the Navy and after that, for the Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill, where he worked on budgetary policy against the backdrop of the Cold War in the 1980s. He describes his work at Comptroller for the Department of Defense where he worked on identifying budgetary waste at the Pentagon. O’Keefe describes the scene at the Pentagon during the Gulf War, and he discusses the opportunity that led to him becoming Secretary of the Navy. He describes his career prospects outside of government after George H.W. Bush lost re-election and the opportunity leading to his professorship at Syracuse University, where he mentored students in public service leadership. O’Keefe describes being named NASA administrator in the administration of George W. Bush and some of the challenges he encountered coming from a defense background. He discusses the tragedy and his strategy in dealing with the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, both in terms of lessons learned from the engineering failures, and the grief that he shared with the families of the astronauts who died. O’Keefe describes some of the ways he attempted to turn the disaster into institutional opportunity at NASA and its impact on the Hubble space servicing mission. He describes his decision to become Chancellor at Louisiana State University, where he focused on building up the school’s endowment, dealing with Hurricane Katrina, and working to keep LSU graduates in the state. O’Keefe describes his tenure as CEO of Airbus North America before returning to Syracuse to teach in his current position. At the end of the interview, O’Keefe reflects on what he has learned about organizational leadership over the course of his career, and what he tries to convey to his students as they prepare to become the nation’s next generation of leaders.

Interview with Anne Kinney, Deputy Center Director of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Kinney recounts her childhood in Wisconsin and her early interests in science. She describes her undergraduate experience at the University of Wisconsin where she pursued degrees in physics and astronomy. Kinney discusses her time in Denmark at the Niels Bohr Institute before completing her graduate work at NYU relating to the International Ultraviolet Explorer. She explains the opportunities leading to her postdoctoral appointment at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore where she focused on obtaining optical data and near-infrared data to understand spectral energy distribution for quasars and blazars. Kinney discusses her work on the aberrated Hubble Telescope and her new job at NASA Headquarters where she became head of Origins before she was transferred to Goddard where she became division direct of the Planetary Division. She describes Goddard’s efforts to promote diversity and she describes her subsequent position as chief scientist at Keck Observatory before returning to Washington to join the National Science Foundation to be head of the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Kinney provides a broad view of the NSF budgetary environment, and she explains the circumstances that led her back to NASA to her current work. She describes where Goddard fits into NASA’s overall mission and she explains her interest in promoting NASA in an educational framework to children. At the end of the interview, Kinney conveys her excitement about the James Webb Telescope and why she is committed to ensuring that NASA is a driver behind the broader effort to make astronomy and physics more diverse.

Interview with Alan Dressler, Astronomer Emeritus at The Carnegie Institute for Science Observatories. He describes his current focus on the James Webb Telescope and he conveys concern for a "post-reality" political environment that has taken a grip on American politics. He recounts his upbringing in Cincinnati, and how his curiosity about how things worked naturally pulled him toward astronomical interests. Dressler discusses his undergraduate education at UC Berkeley and his decision to pursue a PhD in the newly created Department of Astronomy at UC Santa Cruz. He describes the importance of the Lick Observatory for his research under the direction of Joe Wampler, and how Jim Peebles gave this thesis project a "seal" of approval. Dressler describes the origins of the Dressler Relation in his study of the morphology of galaxies and the density of their environment, and he describes the opportunities leading to his postdoctoral appointment at Carnegie. He explains the history of the Caltech-Carnegie partnership in astronomy, and he describes working with Allan Sandage and Jim Gunn. Dressler emphasizes the revolutionary effect the Hubble Telescope imparted to the field, and he discusses his time as a Las Campanas fellow. He describes how his work on galaxy formation fed into larger questions about the origins of the universe and the broader philosophical implication of our understanding of Earth's place in the universe. Dressler explains the Great Attractor Model and the state of play in black hole research in the 1980s, and he describes why he did not need to "see" an image of black holes to be convinced of their existence. He narrates the origins of the Association of Universities for Research and Astronomy, and the drama surrounding the repair of the Hubble. Dressler describes presenting the HST & Beyond report to NASA administrator Dan Goldin, and he discusses the natural progression for his work on the NASA Origins program. He discusses his subsequent focus on the Magellan Telescope and the EOS Decadal Survey. At the end of the interview, Dressler reflects on the strides made in galaxy formation research over the course of his career, and he conveys pride in playing a role in science, for which he appreciated since youth as a field that offered limitless opportunities to improve the world. 

Interview with Wendy Freedman, John & Marion Sullivan University Professor and senior member of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago. She recounts her childhood in Canada, her early interests in science, and her decision to attend the University of Toronto, where she developed an interest in astronomy. She cites the Canada France Hawaii Telescope as the reason she stayed at Toronto for graduate school to work under the direction of Barry Madore. Freedman describes her postdoctoral appointment at Carnegie Observatories to work on the Cepheid distance scale, and she explains her decision to accept a position on the permanent staff at Carnegie. She narrates the origins of the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project, and she explains the resistance among theorists regarding the existence of the Hubble constant. Freedman discusses the importance of CCDs to measure the Hubble constant, and she marvels at Hubble’s long and productive life. She explains the inspiration for starting the Giant Magellan Telescope as an international collaboration, and she explains the opportunities that led to her becoming director of Carnegie. Freedman surveys the cooperative nature between the GMT and LSST projects and she projects optimism that GMT will propel fundamental advances in black hole research and for the search for exoplanets and possible for life beyond earth. She explains her decision to join the faculty at Chicago and she expresses pleasure at being able to work with students as a professor. At the end of the interview, Freedman reflects on the increasing complexity and expense of large-scale astronomy research and why it is important that the astronomy community relates its work and discoveries to the broader public.