Astronomy Colloquium

In over 40 years at JPL and Caltech I have been fortunate to participate in two great scientific revolutions, the shift of IR astronomy into space and the discovery and characterization of exoplanets. The first of these owed much to Gerry's development of ground-based astronomy at Mt. Wilson and Palomar which set the stage for the dramatic leap to space with IRAS, followed by Spitzer, WISE and ultimately JWST. The second is the ongoing explosion in exoplanet science which happened mostly after Gerry retired, but as I pursue my own research, I continually hear him urging me to think about the key questions and to make sure I get the data right.

My scientific arc has been defined by increasing capabilities, from searching for massive protostars in giant molecular clouds with a 24" telescope on Mauna Kea, to identifying solar-type protostars with IRAS, to finding signposts of planet formation with IRAS and Spitzer, to detecting Jovian-mass brown dwarfs with 2MASS and WISE, and now searching for and characterizing planets from gas giants to super-Earths. Gerry shared a vision that interferometry would be important for finding other Earths using both astrometry and direct detection. But apart from getting a second Keck telescope built with NASA's partnership, that proved to be a road not taken—at least in the US. But many valuable capabilities came from those initial efforts which are enabling new instruments including single mode fiber spectrometers like Parvi and HISPEC and even the picometer control of optical structures for HWO.

I will describe some waypoints along this voyage of discovery and describe ways, direct and indirect, where I, along with the astronomical community, owe Gerry a great debt.