David DeVorkin of the National Air and Space Museum discusses the life of George Robert Carruthers, PhD, from DeVorkin’s new biography, From the Laboratory to the Moon: The Quiet Genius of George R. Carruthers. Carruthers (1939-2020) invented the gold-plated Far Ultraviolet Camera / Spectrograph that was the 1st astronomical instrument on the Moon, placed there 21 Apr 1972 by Astronaut John Young during Apollo 16. Carruthers built his 1st telescope at age 10, received a science award for one he designed at age 15, and was awarded a patent at age 30 for an instrument to image radiation, providing 1st proof of interstellar molecular hydrogen. He spearheaded development of instruments for the Moon, Skylab, ARGOS, and 4 Shuttle flights. Join with Microsoft Teams Meeting ID 260 284 664 964 0 and Passcode Cd37Mz7z, or call 1-256-715-9946,,3786114# and use Phone conference ID 378 611 4#.

https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5970/From-the-Laboratory-to-the-MoonThe-Quiet-Genius-of

https://www.aip.org/history/book-spotlight-from-the-laboratory-to-the-moon-the-quiet-genius-of-george-r-carruthers-august-15-2025

https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/CarruthersGR/CarruthersGR_3-25-99.htm

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4992/1