NASA Astrophysicist, Robert Jastrow, Passes Away
“He had a deep sense of the need to interpret science and make it available to the public,” said planetary scientist Albert Arking of Johns Hopkins University, a former student of Dr. Jastrow. “His enthusiasm for science was infectious.”
On November 8, 2008, 82-year old Robert Jastrow passes away at his home in Arlington, Virginia, from pneumonia complications. Known as playing a key role in developing NASA’s program of lunar and solar system exploration, we honor this individual who was also known as a television commentary who spoke in laymen’s language to the public about space science, better helping the world understand it and to become part of NASA’s world.
Considered to be one of the first individuals who was part of NASA’s staff, Dr. Jastrow was considered an early advocate of incorporating the field of science into the developing race in space, recruiting scientific talent into the agency and advocating forcefully for more experimentation. Founder of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, he oversaw the planning for the Pioneer, Voyager, and Galileo space probes. As major aspects of the NASA space program, they returned to Earth the beginning steps of information about the solar system, also playing a key role in the satellites for studying climate and weather on Earth.
Little did this man know that today the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), located at New York City’s Columbia University, is now considered as a laboratory of the NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, also considered as a unit of the Columbia University Earth Institute. The research that is done at this center emphasizes a broad study of global climate change.
Dr. Jastrow was the key figure in bringing this scientific space information to the general public, unlike many of his contemporaries, appearing as a frequent guest on CBS and NBC television networks during space missions. If it had not been for this individual, most of the average people would not be as knowledgeable about space as they are today, hosting more than 100 programs for CBS, explaining space and many other scientific problems.
Jastrow wrote many books, one of them the 1967 best-seller “Red Giants and White Dwarfs,” which is about exploring the solar system, in addition to writing articles about science. He also wrote two books with his mother about immigrant life in New York. But his most controversial work was his 1985 book, “How to Make Nuclear Weapons Obsolete” where he defended President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as “Star Wars.” This was a heavily criticized book that was recognized as echoing the arguments of SDI proponents within the administration, unfortunately without any new scientific basis for this support.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 2:47 am and is filed under Mission History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
