Blair D. Savage
Dr. Blair D. Savage is the Karl G. Jansky Professor
of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Savage received the B.S. degree in Engineering Physics
from Cornell University in 1964, the M.A. and Ph.D.
in Astronomy from Princeton University in 1966 and
1967. After completing his Ph.D. he was involved
in the two successful imaging flights of the Stratoscope-II
36 inch diffraction limited balloon born telescope
in 1968 and 1970. The Stratoscope-II project, pioneered
by Martin Schwarzschild and Robert Danielson of
Princeton University, first demonstrated that high
resolution imagery (0.2 arc sec) and stabilization
(0.01 arc sec) were possible from a remotely controlled
night time optical observatory suspended from a
balloon at 80,000 feet altitude. The success of
Stratoscope-II played a significant role in the
eventual decision to construct the more ambitious
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 1977.
Savage joined the astronomy faculty of the University
of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968 and served as Chair
from 1982 -1985. Savage uses the technique of spectroscopy
to study the composition and physical nature of
the clouds of gas and dust that exist between stars
and between galaxies. A major focus of his research
in recent years has been on the corona of hot gas
surrounding the Milky Way and the hot gaseous medium
found between the galaxies.
Savage has been involved as a member of the science
teams for many of the ultraviolet spectroscopic
observatories launched into space by NASA including
the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-2 (1968 -1972),
the International
Ultraviolet Explorer (1978-1996), and the Goddard
High Resolution Spectrograph (1990-1997) on
the HST. He is currently working with UV spectra
obtained by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
and is on the science team of the Far-Ultraviolet
Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite which was
launched in June 1999. He is a member of the science
team for the Cosmic
Origins Spectrograph which will be placed aboard
the HST in 2003.
In addition to his space research projects, Savage
played a substantial role in overseeing the creation
of the high technology WIYN 3.5-meter optical observatory
now operating on Kitt Peak in Arizona. The WIYN
Observatory is operated by a consortium consisting
of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University,
Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy
Observatories.
Throughout his career Savage has served on many
astronomy advisory committees for NASA and for National
Research Council. He currently is a member of the
Space Telescope Science Institute Council and of
the Committee for Astronomy and Astrophysics of
the National Research Council. |
