Giovanni Fazio

Giovanni G. Fazio

Senior Physicist, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and Faculty Emeritus, International Space University, Strasbourg

Giovanni G. Fazio is Senior Physicist, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and Faculty Emeritus, International Space University, Strasbourg. He was for many years a Lecturer in the Astronomy Department of Harvard University. Dr. Fazio is an expert in astronomy and space instrumentation, using high-altitude balloon-borne and space telescopes to explore the Universe. He has served as Principal Investigator for three NASA space missions, as well as Principal Investigator for two high-altitude balloon-borne telescope programs for gamma-ray and infrared astronomy. He initiated the 10-meter Cerenkov Telescope for ultra-high gamma-ray astronomy at the F. L. Whipple Observatory in Arizona. He most recently was Principal Investigator for the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope, one of NASA’s Great Observatories. Dr. Fazio has authored or co-authored more than 365 scientific papers in astronomy and astrophysics, space science, and instrumentation. Dr. Fazio is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and past Chairman of its Astrophysics Division, a Fellow of the AAAS, and of numerous other scientific societies. He has received numerous awards, including the American Astronomical Society’s Henry Norris Russell Lecture award. Giovanni G. Fazio holds undergraduate degrees in physics and chemistry from St. Mary’s University, Texas, and a PhD in physics from MIT. Dr. Fazio added: “Of the many space missions I have been associated with, this program is by far the most unique and the most exciting.”