David C. Jewitt facts for kids

Quick facts for kids David Jewitt
Born	1958 (age 66–67) London
Alma mater	University College London
Known for	Discovery of the first body in the Kuiper belt
Awards	Shaw Prize (2012) Kavli Prize (2012)
Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy, Astrophysics
Institutions	UCLA
Thesis	(1983)
Doctoral advisor	James Westphal

David Clifford Jewitt (born in 1958) is a famous British-American astronomer. He studies our Solar System, especially its smaller objects like comets and asteroids. He works at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). There, he is a professor of astronomy. He is most famous for helping to discover the first object in the Kuiper belt beyond Pluto. He did this with Jane Luu.

David Jewitt's Early Life

David Jewitt was born in London, England, in 1958. His parents lived in London. His mom was a phone operator, and his dad made steel tools.

David became interested in space when he saw bright meteors in 1965. News about NASA's Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 missions to the Moon in 1968 and 1969 made him even more excited. He started exploring space with a small telescope his grandparents gave him. Later, he used bigger telescopes built by his uncle and even one he made himself. He became a serious amateur astronomer while still in school.

David Jewitt's Education

David Jewitt went to local schools. He also taught himself a lot by borrowing books from a traveling library. He became interested in physics when a teacher introduced him to the subject around age twelve.

In 1976, David went to University College London. He studied astronomy, physics, math, and other subjects. He really enjoyed a class about physics taught by Professor Sir Robert Boyd. David graduated in 1979 with top honors in astronomy.

After college, David decided to study at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the United States. He earned a master's degree in planetary science in 1980. He then studied planetary nebulae and comets using the Hale Telescope at the Mount Palomar Observatory. He earned his Ph.D. in planetary science and astronomy in 1983.

David Jewitt's Career

In 1983, David Jewitt became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1988, he moved to the University of Hawaii. He was drawn there by the powerful telescopes on Mauna Kea, a large volcano. He became an astronomer and professor at the University of Hawaii.

In 2009, Jewitt moved back to the mainland United States to work at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He became a professor in their Earth and Space Sciences Department. In 2010, he also became a professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department. In 2011, he became the Director of UCLA's Institute for Planets and Exoplanets.

David Jewitt's Research

David Jewitt has studied many things in planetary science. These include the Kuiper belt, comets, asteroids, and the moons of giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn. He also studies how the Solar System formed.

Discovering the Kuiper Belt

In 1992, after five years of searching, David Jewitt and astronomer Jane X. Luu made a big discovery. They found 15760 Albion, the first object in the Kuiper belt other than Pluto and its largest moon Charon. The Kuiper belt is a region of icy objects beyond Neptune. Jewitt and Luu named the object Albion, which is an old poetic name for England.

Since finding Albion, Jewitt has discovered many more objects in the Kuiper belt. Thanks to his work, we now know that Kuiper belt objects fall into different groups.

• Some have nearly circular orbits that are not very tilted.
• Others have more stretched-out orbits that are tilted at steeper angles.
• The scattered disc objects have even larger, more stretched-out, and tilted orbits.
• Resonant objects have orbits that are linked to Neptune's orbit. For example, some orbit the Sun twice for every three times Neptune orbits. Pluto is one of these, and Jewitt named this group "plutinos."

Scientists believe that the Kuiper belt objects and the giant planets moved to their current orbits over a long time. This happened because of their gravity pulling on each other. It seems that Neptune moved outward from an orbit closer to the Sun, and the Kuiper belt objects moved with it.

Other Discoveries

In 1979, David Jewitt discovered Adrastea, a moon of Jupiter. He found it in images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Since then, he has discovered over seventy more moons around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

In 1982, he became famous worldwide for being the first astronomer to spot Halley's Comet as it approached the Sun for its 1986 visit. He used the Hale telescope and an early CCD camera. He is also credited with discovering more than forty asteroids. An asteroid, 6434 Jewitt, was named in his honor.

Sharing His Work

David Jewitt has shared his work with the public many times.

• In 1982, he was interviewed about finding Halley's Comet on the BBC TV show The Sky at Night.
• In 1985, he talked about the comet again on the BBC show Horizon.
• Years later, Horizon interviewed him again for a show about asteroids. He explained that it was hard to get enough telescope time for his Kuiper belt research. He had to look for Kuiper belt objects when he was supposed to be working on other projects!

Jewitt has also written articles for magazines like Scientific American and Sky and Telescope to explain his discoveries to people who are not scientists.

Awards and Honors

David Jewitt has received many awards for his important work:

• In 1994, he won the University of Hawaii's Regent's Medal for research.
• In 1996, NASA gave him their Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.
• In 2005, he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
• In 2012, he won the $1 million Shaw Prize for astronomy. He shared this award with Jane X. Luu. They won for finding and studying objects beyond Neptune.
• Also in 2012, he won the $1 million Kavli Prize for astrophysics. He shared this with Jane Luu and Michael Brown for the same work.

Personal Life

In 1991, David Jewitt met Jing Li, a student from China who was studying solar physics. They married in 1993, and their daughter, Suu Suu, was born in 2000.

When he was a child, David enjoyed writing, history, music, animals, and rocks. As an adult, he enjoys the British TV show The Prisoner and music by modern composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen.

In 2014, David Jewitt was asked to share his thoughts on the future of Earth. He said he felt hopeful. He believed that democracy was becoming stronger than dictatorship, and science was becoming more important than old beliefs.

See also

In Spanish: David C. Jewitt para niños