James Westphal facts for kids

James Adolph Westphal (born June 13, 1930 – died September 8, 2004) was an American scientist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. He was also the Director of Caltech's Palomar Observatory from 1994 to 1997.

James Westphal played a very important part in designing the main camera for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Working at Caltech

Westphal started his career at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1961. His first job there was as a senior engineer. He stayed at Caltech for the rest of his career. He first came to Caltech for just four months from Sinclair Research Labs in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but he never left!

In 1971, Westphal became an associate professor of planetary science at Caltech. He was made a full professor in 1976. For many years, Westphal was more interested in projects on Earth. He often turned down offers to work on space astronomy. But when he finally agreed, he became very excited and dedicated.

Richard Terrile, one of his former students, remembered that Westphal taught him more than just astronomy. He also taught him about being self-reliant and how to stay focused when things get tough. Jim had a great way of making problems simple. He would say, "There are always two ways to deal with a problem: You can get angry and upset and then try to fix it, or you can just fix it. Which way would you rather work on it?"

Westphal was very talented. He even received a special award called a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991. What's amazing is that he earned all these honors without having a Ph.D. degree!

Discoveries at Palomar

In 1973, Westphal built a special camera for the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar. This camera was called a silicon-intensified target camera. It was a huge improvement because it was 20 times more sensitive to light than the old photographic film used at the time. This camera is now part of the collection at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

Gerry Neugebauer, who was the Director of Palomar Observatory before Westphal, said, "What I liked most about Jim was how much he enjoyed science." He added that Westphal was great at fun projects and loved to understand how things really worked. He was always looking for new ways to use his ideas in different areas. He was also brave enough to try new techniques. Because of this approach, Westphal wrote 133 scientific papers during his career.

Awards and Recognition

• On July 1, 1996, a small space rock called an asteroid was named in Westphal's honor. This asteroid, first found by B. A. Skiff on January 9, 1983, is now known as (6173) Jimwestphal.