Allan S. Jacobson

Allan Stanley Jacobson , called Bud Jacobson, (born June 18, 1932 in Chattanooga , † May 6, 1997 in Altadena ) was an American astrophysicist who dealt with X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy.

Jacobson was initially with the US Air Force, where he also pursued a career as a singer in show business (appearances in night clubs) while he was stationed in Japan. After returning to the United States, he attended evening school at Los Angeles City College to become an engineer. From 1959 he continued his studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the University of California, San Diego , where he received his master’s degree in 1964 and his doctorate in 1969 with Laurence Peterson . The subject of the dissertation was balloon experiments on X-ray astronomy with semiconductor detectors. He was also involved with the X-ray experiment on OSO 7 . Then he went to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory , where he headed the group for high energy astrophysics from 1973. There he dealt mainly with gamma-ray astronomy with germanium detectors from balloons and satellites. He led the development of the high-resolution gamma ray spectrometer on board High Energy Astronomy Observatory 3 (HEAO-3), which was launched in 1979. In particular, this enabled the discovery of gamma radiation from the decay of aluminum-26 (in the order of 3 solar masses) in the Milky Way and thus the proof of continued nucleosynthesis in our galaxy (the half-life of the decay is relatively small at 1 million years in astronomical terms) .

He later devoted himself to computer graphics and developed software for the visualization of scientific data (Linked Windows Interactive Data System, LinkWinds) and war games. His LinkWinds was one of NASA's 1996 Software of the Year winners. He has also been involved in gamma-ray spectroscopy applications for US military reconnaissance satellites.

In 1980 he received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and in 1986 the Bruno Rossi Prize . In 1986 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society .

Web links

• Obituary at the AAS