Dr. George Carruthers, a senior astrophysicist at the
Naval Research Laboratory, will be inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame in recognition of his
invention of the far ultraviolet electrographic camera.
To commemorate the centennial of the Wright Brothers’
first powered flight, the 31st annual induction of the
National Inventors Hall of Fame is recognizing pioneers
in the aviation and aerospace industries. The induction
ceremony will take place in May.

The Far Ultraviolet Camera and Spectrograph, sent to
the Moon on the Apollo 16 mission, was based on the
far-ultraviolet electrographic camera that George
Carruthers invented to give scientists fresh, revealing
images of Earth and space. A pioneer in ultraviolet
astronomy, Carruthers’ invention was first used in
sounding rocket flights in 1966, and made the first
detection of molecular hydrogen in deep space in a 1970
flight.

The camera used in the Apollo 16 mission produced about
200 photos revealing new features of Earth’s far-outer
atmosphere, as well as deep-space objects from the
perspective of the lunar surface. It also produced new
far-ultraviolet images of stars, nebulas, and galaxies,
as well as new views of the Earth.

Although the camera itself was left on the Moon, a second
version was used aboard the final Skylab flight in 1973
to obtain images of Comet Kohoutek. Carruthers has also
been involved numerous other sounding rocket and space
shuttle flights using his cameras, including far-UV
studies of stars and nebulas, Comets Halley and West
and Earth’s upper atmosphere. His most recent experiment
was carried on the unmanned DoD ARGOS satellite mission,
launched in 1999.

Carruthers has received numerous awards, including Black
Engineer of the Year in 1987, the Arthur S. Fleming Award
in 1971, the Exceptional Achievement Scientific Award
from NASA in 1972 and the Warner Prize from the American
Astronomical Society in 1973. Carruthers has also
participated as a member of two independent review
committees for the Hubble Space Telescope Project.

The not-for-profit National Inventors Hall of Fame is
dedicated to honoring and fostering creativity and
invention. Each year a new class of inventors is
inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of
patented inventions that make human, social and economic
progress possible. Founded in 1973 by the U. S. Patent
and Trademark Office and the National Council of
Intellectual Property Law Associations, the Hall’s
permanent home is Akron, Ohio.