physics

Rodger Doxsey

Rodger Doxsey is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rodger Doxsey rather than just read about it. In short: Rodger Evans Doxsey (March 11, 1947 – October 13, 2009) was an American physicist and astronomer who made major contributions to the scientific and operational success of NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Hubble Space Telescope (HST). He joined the HST Project at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1981, and was head of the Hubble Missions Office when he die…

Key takeaways

Rodger Doxsey belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rodger Doxsey to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rodger Doxsey from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rodger Evans Doxsey (March 11, 1947 – October 13, 2009) was an American physicist and astronomer who made major contributions to the scientific and operational success of NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Hubble Space Telescope (HST). He joined the HST Project at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1981, and was head of the Hubble Missions Office when he died in 2009. Of Doxsey, STScI Director Matt Mountain said, "Rodger was the heart and soul of Hubble here at the Institute. He knew everything about the space telescope, from the smallest anomaly to the breadth of the extraordinary science delivered by the telescope he had worked with for over 28 years."

Career at MIT Dr. Doxsey was born in Schenectady, New York, raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and earned his Ph.D. in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After his doctorate, he worked at MIT on the third NASA Small Astronomy Satellite (SAS 3), an X-ray astronomy mission, and then on the first High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO 1), which was launched in August 1977.

Work at STScI The institute's first director, Riccardo Giacconi, hired Doxsey nine years before the HST launch in 1990, to be the mission operations scientist. During the following years he was responsible for mission science specifications and requirements, data calibration, operational planning and scheduling, as well as the actual day-to-day commanding of the observatory. Doxsey worked on the development of new, state-of-the-art instruments for HST with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which contributed to the enormous advance made in Hubble's scientific capabilities after launch, by replacing, in the course of several Space Shuttle visits from 1993 to May 2009, the original suite of instruments which had been specified and designed on the basis of technology that was many years old by the time HST finally became operational. Doxsey was also responsible for hiring many of the STScI's staff.

Awards and honors Among Doxsey's many awards and honors, especially notable are:

1991: Awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest honor the Agency can give a nongovernmental employee. The citation noted his "exceptional accomplishments and contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope", and implementation of the systems needed to accomplish those ends. 2004: Awarded the American Astronomical Society's George Van Biesbroeck Prize, citing Dr. Doxsey's "outstanding, unselfish dedication" to making Hubble "one of the most scientifically productive telescopes of all time." In Honor of Doxsey, the American Astronomical Society has a Rodger Doxsey Travel Prize awarded to graduate or PhD students.

References

External links Rodger Doxsey - Daily Telegraph obituary Hubble Project Pioneer Rodger Doxsey Passes Away - STScI Press release, October 14, 2009 Webcast of Rodger Doxsey Award - STScI Webcast of the inaugural presentation of the Rodger E. Doxsey Science Systems Engineering Achievement Award, January 7, 2011

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rodger Doxsey

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rodger Doxsey claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rodger Doxsey before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rodger Doxsey ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rodger Doxsey

In research: Rodger Doxsey appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rodger Doxsey in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rodger Doxsey is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1947 births, 2009 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rodger Doxsey outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rodger Doxsey in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rodger Doxsey means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rodger Doxsey out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rodger Doxsey in simple terms?

Why does Rodger Doxsey matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rodger Doxsey?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rodger Doxsey.