On June 11, Dr. Frank Low, a pioneer of infrared astronomy, died after a long illness in Tucson, AZ. Until the mid-60s, infrared astronomy was virtually impossible to conduct on Earth due to the absorption of infrared radiation (IR) waves by water vapor molecules in lower atmosphere. While working at Texas instruments in the early 1960s, Dr. Low developed a bolometer, an electomangetic radiation detector, that could absorb infrared wavelengths at high altitudes. A Douglas A-3 Skywarrior was first used to carry the instrument in upper stratosphere to conduct the first ever infrared astronomy observations. NASA replaced that plane with a Learjet utilizing a 12 inch telescope, then 1975, began using the C-141 Starlifter cargo aircraft to carry the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KBO). Dr. Low was instrumental in the development of the first IR space-based telescope Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) which identified over 500,000 IR sources during its 10 month lifecycle in 1983.
Frank J. Low was born November 23, 1933 in Mobile, AL and grew up in Houston, TX. He attended Yale University where he completed undergraduate studies to obtain a B.S. in physics. He completed his doctorate in solid state physics at Rice University in 1959.
He first went to work for Texas Instrument where he developed a technique of doping a germanium semiconductor with gallium to create a low-tempurature thermometer sensitive to minute changes in radiation energy. That development led to his invention of a new type of high altitude bolometer able to detect infrared radition. NASA used that instrument and eventually more developed, bigger IR telescopes to conduct high altitude astromical research onboard the C-141 from 1974 to 1995. The KBO was the first to discover the rings around Uranus and to confirm that Pluto had an atmosphere.
Dr. Low founded Infrared Laboratories based in Tucson, AZ that produced IR detectors and cryostats used for observatories and IR microscopes. While teaching at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Dr. Low, along with other astronomers proposed the a space-based IR telescope free from atmospheric interference altogether. NASA approved and funded the project naming Low the chief technologist. During the development of IRAS, an accident at JPL in Pasadena, CA destroyed the preamplifiers, Dr. Low used his company to build more advanced preamplifiers to replaced the destroyed ones thus averting a funding crisis and possible project cancellation.
The IRAS can be seen at the left hanging in a testing facility in the Netherlands prior to its launch. IRAS became the first IR telescope launched into space. Besides identifying IR sources, IRAS was able to observe the debris fields surrounding other solar systems like Vega lending creedence to the hypothesis that a similar debris surrounded our solar system which eventually was discovered by a team of scientists in 1992 at the University of Hawaii now known as the Kuiper belt. Its lifespan of 10 months was due in large part to the limitations of the helium driven cooling system necessary to keep the telescope detectors near absolute zero. But during that 10 month run, IRAS was able to identify over 75,000 starburst galaxies as sources of IR radiation. The IR telescope also led to the discovery of 3 asteroids and 6 comets within our own solar system.
In the 1990's, as part of its Great Observatories program, NASA began working on developing the new Space Infrared Telescope Facility which later became renamed the Spitzer Space Telescope as seen in left photo. However, the cooling system used in IRAS was impractical due to the size of the Spitzer telescope and budget consideration. Dr. Low, who served as the project's facility scientist improvised a new technique of utilizing space to act as a heat sink in a Earth trailing orbit making cooling only the detector in a liquid helium bath much more practical. This same technology is being used in the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope which will be launched in 2013. The JWST will be the largest IR telescope ever launched.
Dr. Frank Low began teaching physics at Rice University in Houston, Texas and remained affiliated with the university from 1966 to 1979. He then taught at University of Arizona in Tucson until 1996 and retired from his company in 2007. He is survived by his wife of 52 years and his 3 children and 6 grandchildren. He has a nebula and an asteroid named after him thus far. We can only hope that the next greatest IR telescope built and launched after JWST will be named the Frank J. Low Space Telescope.