Dr. Fazio is presently Senior Physicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics;
Lecturer, Astronomy Department, Harvard University; and a Faculty Member,
International Space University, Strasbourg, France. He received BS (Physics) and BA
(Chemistry) degrees from St. Mary's University, Texas, in 1954, and a Ph.D. (Physics)
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959, having done his graduate work
in elementary particle physics. The same year, he joined the Physics Department,
University of Rochester, where he pioneered the development of gamma-ray astronomy
using balloon-borne telescopes and was the Co-Principal Investigator for the gamma-ray
detector experiment on NASA's first Orbiting Solar Observatory (1962). In 1962 he
joined the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory,
where he initiated a program in gamma-ray astronomy using balloon-borne and ground-
based detectors. He also initiated the construction of the 10-meter optical reflector at the
F. L. Whipple Observatory, Arizona, to search for ultrahigh-energy cosmic gamma-rays.
In the early 1970's he pioneered the development of large balloon-borne telescopes for
far-infrared astronomical observations above the atmosphere, and for twenty years was
Principal Investigator for the 1-Meter Balloon-Borne Far-Infrared Telescope. He was
also the Principal Investigator for the first infrared astronomical telescope to fly on the
Spacelab II flight of the Space Shuttle (1985). In 1984 he was selected as Principal
Investigator for the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) experiment on the Spitzer Space
Telescope, one of NASA's Great Observatories. The Spitzer Space Telescope was
launched in August, 2003, and since then continues to produce many important
discoveries and spectacular new images of the infrared Universe. Dr. Fazio was also a
Co-Investigator on the Submillimeter Wave Astronomical Satellite (SWAS; 1998). His
current research interests include the development of infrared instrumentation and the use
of infrared array cameras on ground-based and space telescopes to observe galaxy
formation and evolution in the early Universe, black holes, ultraluminous galaxies, star
formation and evolution, brown dwarfs, and asteroids.
Dr. Fazio is also past President of the International Astronomical Union's Division XI
and Commission 44 (Space and High Energy Astrophysics); past Chairman, Universities
Space Research Association (USRA) Science Council for Astronomy and Space Physics;
past Vice-Chairman of the COSPAR Commission on Research in Astrophysics from
Space; and a past member of the Space Telescope Institute Council (STIC) and NASA's
Astrophysics Subcommittee.
Dr. Fazio is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and past chairman of its
Astrophysics Division, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS), a member of the American Astronomical Society and past chairman of
its High Energy Astrophysics Division. He is also a member of the International
Astronomical Union, the Optical Society of America, and a Fellow of the Royal
Astronomical Society. He has been a member of numerous national and international
advisory committees and is an author on more than 350 publications in refereed scientific
journals. Dr. Fazio has received seven NASA Group Achievement Awards and in 1998
he received the Tsiolkovsky Medal, Russia's State Museum of the History of
Cosmonautics. In 2005 he received the UNICO National Marconi Science Medal and the
NASA Public Service Medal, and in 2008 the Royal Society of London/COSPAR
Massey Award (Gold Medal) for outstanding achievements in space science. In 2009 he
received the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award and in 2010 the Astronomical
Society of the Pacific Muhlman Award to the Spitzer Space Telescope Team. In 2012 St.
Mary's University, Texas, awarded Dr. Fazio a Ph.D. Degree, honoris causa, and in 2015
he received the highest award of the American Astronomical Society, the Henry Norris
Russell Lectureship. Dr. Fazio was awarded the SPIE George W. Goddard Award in
Space and Airborne Optics in 2019.
Short Vita (pdf)
|