George carruthers telescope

(1939-2020)

Who Was George Carruthers?

Scientist George Carruthers built his first telescope at the age of 10. He earned his Ph.D.

in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at the University of Illinois in 1964 and began working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. His telescope and image converter was used to identify molecular hydrogen in space and his ultraviolet camera/spectrograph was used by Apollo 16 during the flight to the moon.

Early Life

Carruthers was born on October 1, 1939, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the eldest of George and Sophia Carruthers' four children.

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Where did george carruthers receive his ph.d. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering?

George Carruthers, Sr. was a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Air Corps, and encouraged his son's early interests in science. By the age of 10, the young Carruthers had constructed his own telescope with cardboard tubing and mail-order lenses he bought with money he earned as a delivery boy.

Carruthers' father died when the boy was only 12.

After his death, the family moved to Chicago,