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"I decided to become an astronomer in fifth
grade, after looking at Saturn
through a friend's little 2-inch refractor. I still
find it incredible that I get paid for doing this."
Phil Massey then went on
to get his B.S. and M.S. from Caltech
(1975) and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado
(1980). He spent a pleasant three years as a postdoctoral
fellow at the Dominion
Astrophysical Observatory (Victoria, BC). He
joined the staff of Kitt
Peak National Observatory in 1984 as a staff
astronomer, and spent many years there helping to
look after optical spectroscopy and imaging, and
in more recent years the 4-m Mayall telescope. He
was privileged to join the staff of Lowell
Observatory in 2000 as a staff astronomer.
Phil's research involves the study of massive stars,
using nearby galaxies as the laboratories for probing
the effects that metallicity and other environmental
factors have on the evolution of stars. For this
work he has long used HST, in addition to a wide
variety of ground-based telescope and instrumentation.
He is the principal investigator of an "NOAO
Survey team" studying the stellar content of
nearby galaxies.
KPNO 4m Mayall Telescope Images
Courtesy NOAO/AURA/NSF
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