James Roger Prior Angel (born February 7, 1941) is a British-American astrophysicist known for his contributions to astronomy and the design and fabrication of large optics for telescopes, solar power and other applications. He developed the spin casting (mirrors), spin casting and stressed lap polishing techniques used at the University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab to produce mirrors for some of the List of largest optical reflecting telescopes, largest optical telescopes in the world. He is a Regents' Professor of Astronomy and Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona.

Education

Angel graduated from St Peter's College, Oxford, with a BA, in 1963, from California Institute of Technology, with an MS, in 1966, and from the University of Oxford, with a D Phil, in 1967. While at Oxford's Clarendon Laboratory he built an early computer to allow for the first direct measurement an atom's Quadrupole#Electric_quadrupole, quadrupole moment.

Career and research

He has taught at Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990. In 1979, he proposed the lobster-eye optics principle for X-rays. In 2006, Angel proposed assembling a space sunshade to mitigate global warming by placing trillions of 0.6-meter, 1-gram disks of refractive material into stable orbit between the Earth and the Sun (Lagrange point#L1 point, Lagrange point 1, or ). The disks would be launched in stacks of 800,000 by Non-rocket spacelaunch#Electromagnetic acceleration, electromagnetic acceleration and transported to (1.5 Orders_of_magnitude_(length)#gigametre, Gm from Earth) via ion propulsion. After separation the individual disks would remain in place by autonomously modulating Radiation pressure, solar radiation pressure. Together the cloud of disks would deflect 2% of solar radiation onto the Earth, enough to counteract the warming effect of a 100% increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from pre-industrial levels. He concluded that such a sunshield "could be developed and deployed in ≈25 years at a cost of a few trillion dollars, <0.5% of world gross domestic product (GDP) over that time." On August 23, 2012, Angel and his inventions were the subject of a story on National Public Radio, NPR's ''Morning Edition''.

Awards

* 1976 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy * 1996 MacArthur Fellows Program * 2007 Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize * 2010 Kavli Prize for Astrophysics * 2016 National Inventors Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angel, Roger 1941 births Living people American astronomers Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford California Institute of Technology alumni Columbia University faculty University of Arizona faculty MacArthur Fellows Honorary Fellows of St Peter's College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Kavli Prize laureates in Astrophysics Recipients of the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy