Jerry Nelson

Jerry Earl Nelson (January 15, 1944 – June 10, 2017) was an American astronomer known for his pioneering work designing segmented mirror telescopes, which led to him sharing the 2010 Kavli Prize for Astrophysics.

Education Nelson was born in Los Angeles County on January 15, 1944. As a high school student in 1960, Nelson got an early start in astronomy when he attended the Summer Science Program where he studied under astronomers Paul Routly and George Abell. Growing up in Kagel Canyon outside of Los Angeles, he was the first child from his town to go to college.

He got his B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1965 and his Ph.D. in elementary particle physics from University of California, Berkeley in 1972. While at Caltech, he helped to design and build a telescope.

"The Hale Telescope was very innovative for its day, but in terms of advancing the state of the art--or at least pushing the available technology to its limits--it's been downhill ever since for optical telescopes. It is time for a forward step, not just making improvements in an old design." —Jerry Nelson

Nelson died in Santa Cruz, California on June 10, 2017.

Awards 1995 Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics 1995 California Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni 1996 Joseph Fraunhofer Award and Robert M. Burley Prize from the Optical Society of America 2010 Kavli Prize for Astrophysics and fellowship of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. 2012 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering from the Franklin Institute.