William George Fastie (6 December 1916 – 14 July 2000) was an American optical physicist and spectroscopist who played a part in the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

space program of the late 1950s.

Early years

Fastie was born on December 6, 1916 in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. He was one of four children of William Ferdinand and Carolyn Fastie. He attended

between 1934 and 1941, initially at evening classes and later as a graduate student in physics, supervised by August Herman Pfund,

Robert W. Wood Robert Williams Wood (May 2, 1868 – August 11, 1955) was an American physicist and inventor who made pivotal contributions to the field of optics. He pioneered infrared and ultraviolet photography. Wood's patents and theoretical work inform m ...

, and Gerhard Heinrich Dieke.

Career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Fastie's work in the department of physics involved the development of

infrared detector An infrared detector is a detector that reacts to infrared (IR) radiation. The two main types of detectors are thermal and photonic (photodetectors). The thermal effects of the incident IR radiation can be followed through many temperature depe ...

s. At the end of the War he joined Leeds & Northrup as a research physicist, but was lured back to Hopkins in 1951 by the professor of physics, John D. Strong. Fastie's first publication described a new design of

spectrometer A spectrometer () is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure Spectrum, spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomeno ...

which today bears his name. With the launch of

Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program ...

, Fastie saw the potential of spectroscopy from space, and started a program at Hopkins to develop this idea. Initially concentrating on spectroscopic analysis of the Earth's

upper atmosphere Upper atmosphere is a collective term that refers to various layers of the atmosphere of the Earth above the troposphere and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets, and includes: * The mesosphere, which on Earth lies between th ...

, it soon broadened into a full-fledged astronomy program, using accurately pointed telescopes. He contributed to the

Mariner 5 Mariner 5 (Mariner V or Mariner Venus 1967) was a spacecraft of the Mariner program that carried a complement of experiments to probe Venus' atmosphere by radio occultation, measure the hydrogen Lyman-alpha (hard ultraviolet) spectrum, and sam ...

flyby of Venus in 1967, and the Mariner 6 and 7 flybys of Mars in 1969, as well as heading the ultraviolet spectrometer experiment on

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, ...

in 1972 - the missions using ultraviolet spectrometers designed by Fastie in 1952. Known today as th
Ebert-Fastie spectrometer
it has a design similar to that described by Hermann Ebert in the early 1900s. Fastie's interests also moved to astronomy in the 1960s, and he designed a number of precision-pointing telescopes whose designs are still used in

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

s. In 1977 NASA appointed Fastie as a member of the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

(HST) science working group. In 1979, the

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a consortium of universities and other institutions that operates astronomical observatories and telescopes. Founded October 10, 1957, with the encouragement of the National Sc ...

Inc suggested Hopkins as the home for the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for the ...

. Fastie provided a detailed formulation for the proposal. The bio-luminescence of

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

was added to his list of interests, as was the development of new designs of spectroscope. Fastie retired from Hopkins in 1982, but continued to work on campus for another 15 years. He contributed to the design of the

Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) was a space telescope designed to make spectroscopic observations in the far-ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was flown into orbit on the Space Shuttle and operated from the Shuttle' ...

, used on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

in December 1990 and March 1995. The 'Fastie Finger', a device in the

Advanced Camera for Surveys The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) is a third-generation axial instrument aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The initial design and scientific capabilities of ACS were defined by a team based at Johns Hopkins University. ACS was assembl ...

used for masking unwanted bright astronomical light sources used, is named after him.

Personal life

Fastie and his wife Frances raised two sons and a daughter. Fastie died in Baltimore of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on July 14, 2000.

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript with William Fastie on 4 February 1983, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fastie, William George 20th-century American physicists American optical physicists 1916 births Scientists from Baltimore 2000 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Maryland