[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 92 (Thursday, June 26, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6556-S6557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DR. JOHN MATHER

 Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to 
rise today to recognize Dr. John Mather, a senior astrophysicist from 
Hyattsville, MD, who works at the nearby Goddard Space Flight Center 
[GSFC] in Greenbelt, MD. Dr. Mather has risen to the top of his field 
and was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences for his 
distinguished and continued groundbreaking achievements in the area of 
original research.
  As a senior Astrophysicist at Goddard, Dr. Mather serves as a Study 
Scientist for the Next Generation Space Telescope, which will be a 
successor to the Hubbel Space Telescope. He also serves as chair of the 
Anomaly Review Board for the HST NICMOS Instrumental as PI for the 
ARCADE/DIMES mission studies, as PI for a Long Term Astrophysics grant 
for the study of the anisotropy of the cosmic IR background, as well as 
other projects that will advance science well into the next century.
  Since joining NASA in 1974, Dr. Mather has received a number of 
commendations and awards for his cutting edge work in the demanding 
field of astrophysics. Among his accomplishments are the Group 
Achievement

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Award from GSFC, the Exception Achievement Award, the John C. Lindsay 
Memorial Award, the Group Achievement Award, the Rotary National Space 
Achievement Award, the National Air and Space Museum Trophy, the 
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space Science Award, 
an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Swarthmore College, and the 
Rumford Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
  In recent years, Dr. Mather has continued to publish on the topic of 
the COBE FIRAS Spectrum, the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer on 
the Cosmic Background Explorer and other topics, always maintaining his 
grasp of current scientific discoveries.
  A native of New Jersey, Dr. Mather grew up on the Rutgers University 
Dairy Research Station where his father worked as a geneticist. He went 
on to graduate from Swarthmore College with highest honors in Physics. 
He received his doctorate in Physics in 1974 from the University of 
California at Berkeley. We in Maryland are certainly delighted that he 
has since decided to become a member of the Hyattsville community and a 
prominent member of the NASA presence in the state.
  Mr. President, Dr. Mather's election to the National Academy of 
Sciences is a tremendous milestone in this public servant's already 
magnificent career. As Dr. Mather continues to be a rising star in the 
astrophysics community it is truly an honor to recognize this fine 
Marylander for his accomplishments and I wish him continued success in 
future endeavors.

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