George Rieke

George Rieke is Regents Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. He switched from a Ph.D. thesis on very high energy gamma rays to a postdoctoral position in infrared astronomy just in time to enjoy the growth of the latter from primitive beginnings with less than a dozen practitioners to its current status as a major branch of astronomy. This growth will culminate with the launch of JWST and the participation of the worldwide astronomical community in the results from it. Rieke has been co-author of more than 500 scientific publications, and also has written three books: “The Last of the Great Observatories” (which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly), “Measuring the Universe” (recipient of the Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award, and “The Detection of Light” (now in a third edition). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and of the National Academy of Science, and in 2006 he received the Koffler Prize for creative scholarship at the University of Arizona.