George W. Clark

George Whipple Clark (August 31, 1928 – April 6, 2023) was an American astronomer and professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When he retired, M.I.T. described him as "a central figure in the development of high-energy astrophysics, particularly in the design, analysis, and interpretation of experiments for the study of high-energy cosmic ray particles and the celestial sources of gamma rays and X-rays."

Biography He was born in Harvey, Illinois in 1928 to Robert Keep Clark and Margaret Whipple Clark. He was the nephew of acclaimed pancreatic surgeon Allen O. Whipple.

Clark received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1949 and a Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1952. In 1991, he received the M.I.T. School of Science Teaching Prize for his work over many years as the faculty member in charge of Physics 8.13-14 (Experimental Physics).

He received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award for his work with Claude R. Canizares on the Focal Plane Crystal Spectrometer experiment on the Einstein X-Ray Observatory. He was a principal scientist for satellite experiments that resulted in the discovery of high-energy gamma rays from galactic and extra-galactic sources. His pioneering work in the use of balloon-borne instrumentation for observing celestial X-ray sources discovered high energy X-rays from the Crab Nebula. Clark was the Principal Investigator for the MIT X-Ray Observatory on the Third Small Astronomy Satellite. He continued his work with observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Clark was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.

Clark died from pancreatic cancer on April 6, 2023 in Boston. He was 94.