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Howard A. Smith, PhD, is a
senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-
Smithsonian
Center
for Astrophysics in Cambridge,
Massachusetts,
with over two hundred published articles in astronomy and astrophysics.
His research emphasizes the origins of stars and galaxies, in
particular using techniques of infrared astronomy and spectroscopy. He
has been the principal investigator on numerous national and
international research grants and programs. A co-investigator on the
European Space Agency’s Infrared Space Observatory satellite, he led
the Extragalactic Science program for its Long Wavelength Spectrometer
team. He is currently a senior member of several teams with NASA’s
Spitzer Space Telescope. In addition to his research activities, he is
involved in public education and outreach activities. He has been
recognized by Harvard for excellence in teaching undergraduates.
Prior to moving to Cambridge, Dr. Smith was the chair of the
Laboratory for Astrophysics, the astronomy department of the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space
Museum
in Washington, DC, where he supervised a staff of
scientists and educators. He also played a key role in developing
museum galleries, education programs, videos, and IMAX movies,
including the Academy Award nominee Cosmic Voyage. For three years he served
as a rotating discipline scientist at NASA headquarters, where he was
responsible for grants in theory, data analysis, long-term research,
and some proposed NASA missions. Before joining the Smithsonian, he led
a research program at the Naval Research Laboratory.
Dr. Smith holds two
undergraduate degrees from MIT, in physics and in humanities and
science, and a PhD in physics from the University
of California, Berkeley. He is a
member of the American Physical Society, the American Astronomical
Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical
Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A
traditional and observant Jew, he has lectured on cosmology and
Kabbalah for over twenty years. He is married with three children.
(Figure
caption: "In the beginning...B'Resheit: from the Hebrew Bible
published by the Society of Jewish Bibliophiles in Germany, 1933.
Credit http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/guide/hs-intro.html)
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