James R. Houck

James R. Houck died at the age of 74 on September 18, 2015 after a long illness. Jim was born in Mobile, Alabama on October 5, 1940 to Elsa and James M. Houck. His father was an engineer for Alcoa and the family moved often, eventually settling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jim was interested in electronics from an early age and built transistor radios in grade school. Later, he worked as a caddy at Oakmont Country Club. Jim earned a B.S. in Physics from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1962 and a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University in 1967. Jim joined the Cornell faculty in the Department of Astronomy soon therafter, eventually retiring as the Kenneth A. Wallace Professor of Astronomy. Jim met his wife Elaine as an undergraduate and they married in 1965.

Jim pioneered infrared observational astronomy, designing detectors and spectrographs that were flown on sounding rockets in the 1960s, on the NASA Lear Jet and Kuiper Airborne Observatory in the 1970s, and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) in 1983 and the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2003. He also led development of Cornell's instrumentation for the Palomar Observatory Hale Telescope. Jim's research outside instrumentation focused on the mechanisms responsible for energy generation in Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies, of which he was a discoverer using the IRAS satellite. Jim also studied the formation of dust in the early Universe.

Jim loved teaching his students as they explored the wonders of Astronomy. Over the course of 40 years, Jim was the advisor to dozens of graduate students, who went on to become successful scientists around the world. Jim was one of the key players in building and running the Hartung-Boothroyd Observatory on Mount Pleasant east of Ithaca. One of his favorite courses to teach was Astronomy 4410 in which the students received hands-on observational experience. Jim also taught the second semester of Cornell's year-long Introduction to Astronomy class, giving generations of undergraduates a fun and interesting way of satisfying their science requirement. For Jim's efforts in this course, he was awarded the Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching. In the 1980s, he served on the committee which decided to keep Cornell's infamous swimming requirement for all undergraduate students.

Jim was a leader in his field. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974, spending the year at the California Institute of Technology. He was awarded the 2008 Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation from the American Astronomical Society. The citation states: "This award was given to Dr. James Houck (Cornell University) for his extraordinary contributions over nearly four decades to major instrumentation for infrared astronomy. From early pioneering rocket experiments and major contributions to IRAS instrumentation to most recently the design and construction of IRS for the Spitzer telescope, Dr. Houck's contributions have been seminal to making infrared astronomy among the most exciting in the entire field. Scientifically, Dr. Houck's contributions have spanned the range from HII regions to the Galactic Center to extragalactic IR sources. It is no exaggeration to say that without Dr. Houck's contributions, modern IR astronomy would never have reached its current level of maturity."

NASA recognized Jim twice with one of its top honors, the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal. In 1984, he received it "for outstanding contributions to IRAS, including efforts in the rebuilding of the telescope focal plane assembly and continuing scientific analysis," and in 2005, for leading the successful development of the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared spectrograph.

Jim was a longtime season ticket holder for the Cornell men's hockey team. Jim was an avid traveler and loved visiting India and Nepal. In 1997, he served as Science Advisor for a trip to watch the solar eclipse in Mongolia.

He was predeceased by his wife Elaine (Vezzani) Houck in 2011. He is survived by his sister, Sara Horsman of Pittsburgh; his sons, Chris (Tracy) of Boulder, CO and Rob (Michelle) of Chappaqua, NY; as well as his four beloved grandchildren, Adriana, Aiden, Joshua and Olivia. He is also survived by a niece, Cynthia Horsman of Evergreen, CO, and Richard Horsman and his wife Erica of Ann Arbor, MI.

Friends may call on Tuesday, September 22, 2015, from 4-6 p.m. at the Bangs Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Department of Astronomy of Cornell University in the name of Jim Houck.

A private burial will be held at a later date at Lakeview Cemetery.

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