HEROES OF SPACE
Lyman Spitzer
The man who helped us see the universe in an new way
Born on 26 June 1914 in Toledo, Ohio, Spitzer may have inherited his eager and curious mind from his ancestor Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionised the cotton industry. A natural and passionate learner, Spitzer earned a place at Yale University, where he studied physics. He also spent a year studying abroad at Cambridge University before finally entering Princeton, gaining a masters degree and a doctorate in astrophysics under the mentorship of the famous astronomer Henry Norris Russell.