Edward J. Groth

Edward John Groth III (born 1946) is an American astrophysicist known for his work on the cosmological distribution of galaxies and in the development of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Early life and education Born in 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri, Groth moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, for his high-school years. He won several state mathematics competitions and was also active in sports, playing on the varsity tennis team. Influenced by his father, who had been a chemistry and physics major and worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Groth had an early interest in becoming a physicist. He was accepted to Caltech under an early decision plan.

Groth completed a B.S. in physics at Caltech in 1968, then began Ph.D. studies at Princeton, earning his Ph.D. in three years. His Ph.D. thesis on the Crab Nebula Pulsar aimed to establish absolute time references for testing Einstein's theory of relativity and searching for gravitational wave emissions. After a year as an instructor, he became a junior faculty member at Princeton in 1972, was granted tenure in 1978, and remained at Princeton for the rest of his career.

In one of their early analyses of the Groth Strip, Groth, his student Jason Rhodes, and colleague Alexandre Refregier, achieved the first space-based detection of "weak gravitational lensing" in galaxies, a phenomenon explained by Einstein's general theory of relativity.

Starting in 1999, Groth, along with Paul Horowitz, Dave Wilkinson, and Norm Jarosik, engaged in the "Optical SETI" project, focusing on optical signals from potential extraterrestrial civilizations. No extraterrestrial signals were detected.

Groth retired to emeritus status at Princeton in 2018.

Software development Groth was known as an accomplished computer software developer. His contributions include developing GPLOT, an early plotting package for Fortran, which he made freely available to others. Additionally, he designed fonts at a time when such resources were scarce.

Groth played a crucial role in establishing the digital archive for the Hubble Space Telescope. He was also instrumental in writing some of the initial programs used to deconvolve the distorted images captured by the Hubble Telescope after its launch. His efforts in scientific computation significantly contributed to keeping the Princeton group at the forefront of their field for many years.

Honors and other activities Groth was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellow (1973–1975) and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1992 he received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Science Achievement.

He has been a consultant for Cornell Technical Services, American Cash Exchange, TRW, and Princeton Telecommunications.

Personal Groth was sometimes considered gruff, but he was known for his generosity in sharing his work. Following a heart attack, he turned to cycling with great enthusiasm, engaging in frequent multiday rides and organizing two annual bike trips for his department colleagues. Additionally, his passion for softball earned him the affectionate nickname "the Babe Ruth of the Degenerate Neutron Stars" among his friends.