John Cromwell Mather (born August 7, 1946) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist and

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

laureate for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) with George Smoot. This work helped cement the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

theory of the universe. According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE-project can also be regarded as the starting point for

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

as a precision science." Mather is a senior astrophysicist at the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC ...

(GSFC) in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and adjunct professor of physics at the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. In 2007, ''Time'' magazine listed Mather among the 100 Most Influential People in The World. In October 2012, he was listed again by ''Time'' magazine in a special issue on New Space Discoveries as one of the 25 most influential people in space. Mather is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, and the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

. Mather served as the senior project scientist for the

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, Lis ...

(JWST) from 1995 until 2023, when he was succeeded by Jane Rigby. In 2014, Mather delivered an address on the James Webb Space Telescope at the second

Starmus Festival The Starmus International Festival is an international gathering focused on celebrating astronomy, space exploration, music, art, and the natural sciences. It was founded by astronomer / amateur musician Garik Israelian and musician / astrophysi ...

in the Canary Islands.

Education and initial research

* 1964 Newton High School, Newton, New Jersey * 1968 B.S. (Physics),

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

(Highest Honors) * 1974 Ph.D. (Physics),

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

* 1974–1976 (NRC Postdoctoral Fellow),

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Goddard Institute for Space Studies The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at Columbia University in Ne ...

Honors and awards

* 1964–1968

Open Scholarship (honorary) * 1967

William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual list of mathematics competitions, mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in th ...

, 30th place nationwide * 1968 Highest possible score (990), physics Grad Records * 1968–1970 NSF Fellowship and honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellowship * 1970–1974 Fellow, Hertz Foundation * 1974–1976 Postdoctoral Fellow, NRC * 1990

GSFC John C. Lindsay Memorial Award * 1991 Rotary National Space Achievement Award * 1991

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

Trophy * 1992

Aviation Week and Space Technology ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network, a division of Informa. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aero ...

Laurels for Space/Missiles * 1993

Discover Magazine ''Discover'' is an American general audience science magazine launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It is currently owned by LabX Media Group. History Founding ''Discover'' was created primarily through the efforts of ''Time'' magazine e ...

Technology Award finalist * 1993 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space Science Award * 1993

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

and

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics The Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics is jointly awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society and American Institute of Physics for outstanding work in astrophysics. It is funded by the Heineman Foundation in honour of Dannie Hein ...

* 1994 Fellow,

* 1994

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

, ''

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

'', Swarthmore College * 1995

City of Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

John Scott Award * 1996

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Rumford Prize * 1996 Fellow,

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

* 1997

Hall of Fame * 1997 Member,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* 1998 Marc Aaronson Memorial Prize * 1998 Member,

* 1999

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics * 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers George W. Goddard Award * 2006 Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation Prize in Cosmology * 2006

* 2007 Fellow, SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering * 2007

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...

, Golden Plate Award * 2008 Robinson Prize * 2008

, ''

'', University of Maryland * 2008, Commencement Speaker,

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

Winter Commencement * 2010 India General President Gold Medal * 2010 Fellow of the Optical Society of America * 2011

, ''

'', University of Notre Dame *2020 Elected a Legacy Fellow of the

. *2023 Joseph Priestly Award,

Dickinson College Dickinson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1773 as Carlisle Grammar School, Dickinson was chartered on September 9, 1783, ...

Publications

* Mather, J. C
"Far Infrared Spectrometry of the Cosmic Background Radiation"

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

(through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (Jan. 1974). * Mather, J. C.; Albrecht, A.; et al
"Report of the Dark Energy Task Force"

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located in Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Fermilab's Main Injector, two miles (3.3 k ...

, (2006). * Mather, J. C.;Boslough, John; the very first light; 1996,2008 Basic Books

Appearances

Mather is the Science Director of the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists.

References

External links

* * at the

Interview with John Mather from the SPIE Newsroom
* * in ''symmetry'' magazine. *

* * * *

*

John Mather in White House

John Mather Nobel Scholarship has new host
*
Daniel Chalonge Medal 2011 awarded to John Mather
* *
John Mather's 2021 Talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series on 'How the Smooth Early Universe Grew into Everyone You Know'

American Astronomical Society hosts John Mather inspiring students

John Mather on Cosmic Complexity
* * * * *
Southern Illinois University Shaw Lecture features John Mather
* *
John Mather Biography and Interview on American Academy of Achievement
* including the Nobel Lecture on 8 December 2006 ''From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and Beyond'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mather, John C. 1946 births Living people American astronomers American Nobel laureates 21st-century American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Goddard Space Flight Center NASA people NASA astrophysicists Nobel laureates in Physics People from Sussex County, New Jersey People from Roanoke, Virginia Swarthmore College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Maryland, College Park faculty Columbia University faculty Fellows of Optica (society) Honorary members of Optica (society) Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Winners of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics Scientists from Virginia Fellows of the American Astronomical Society Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates