John (Jay) S. Gallagher III is an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and an expert on star formation in external galaxies, dwarf galaxies and dark matter. He is the William Morgan Professor of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he has been a professor since 1991.

Background

He was raised near

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and received his undergraduate education at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He performed his graduate work at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, and was awarded a Ph.D in 1972. His supervisor was

Arthur Code Arthur Dodd Code (August 13, 1923 – March 11, 2009) was an astronomer who designed orbiting observatories. Code served as an electronics technician in the Navy during World War II. Arthur Code was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and developed an early ...

. After graduating he held positions at the

National Optical Astronomy Observatory The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) was the United States national observatory for ground-based nighttime ultraviolet-optical-infrared (OUVIR) astronomy. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded NOAO to provide forefront astronom ...

and at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, and was the director of the

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

. He is currently a Professor of Astronomy at the

and last Editor of the

Astronomical Journal ''The Astronomical Journal'' (often abbreviated ''AJ'' in scientific papers and references) is a peer-reviewed monthly scientific journal owned by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and currently published by IOP Publishing. It is one of the ...

Scientific contributions

Some of Gallagher's major scientific contributions include a review article he wrote along with

Sandra Faber Sandra Moore Faber (born December 28, 1944) is an American astrophysicist known for her research on the evolution of galaxies. She is the University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and works a ...

in 1979 that convinced most astronomers that dark matter was real. In the 1980s, with

Deidre Hunter Deidre A. Hunter is an American astronomer at Lowell Observatory. Her primary research area is tiny irregular galaxies — their origins, evolution and star-formation properties. She uses many parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and includes s ...

, he made the first substantial studies of

dwarf irregular galaxies An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearance ...

. He was later led research on some of the first methods for quantifying star formation in galaxies. Gallagher has made other major contributions towards our understanding of star formation in galaxies, the formation and evolution of low mass galaxies and stellar

nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

. Gallagher was one of the leaders of the team which built the

Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) is a camera formerly installed on the Hubble Space Telescope. The camera was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is roughly the size of a baby grand piano. It was installed by servicing mission ...

for the Hubble Space Telescope.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, John III American astronomers American science teachers University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty University of Illinois faculty Princeton University alumni Living people 1947 births The Astronomical Journal editors