Dr. George R. Carruthers, Ph.D.
Astrophysics

Dr. Carruthers held a position of Rocket Astronomy Research Physicist from 1964 to 1982. An inventor as well as physicist, he was instrumental in the design of lunar surface ultraviolet cameras, using the color spectrum of substances to detect their constituent parts. In 1969, he patented an image converter for detecting far ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation, which was first used in sounding rocket flights, including one in 1970 which made the first detection of molecular hydrogen in interstellar space. He then invented the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph, a device which would examine both the Earth's upper atmosphere and deep space from a location that would avoid the distortions created by Earth absorption of ultraviolet radiation. By 1972, Dr. Carruthers's camera/spectrograph was constructed. Cdr. John W. Young carried the device aboard the Apollo 16 mission and placed it on the surface of the moon. Over 200 pictures of the Earth's atmosphere and geocorona, as well as of the Milky Way and deep space, were taken from this observatory. He also invented photometry ultraviolet cameras and spectrographs for rockets and satellites, several electronic imaging devices and other detectors for space astronomy and upper atmosphere physics research. In 1986, one two of Carruthers' inventions instruments captured an ultraviolet images and spectra of Halley's Comet.