Dr. Terry A. Matilsky

Terry Matilsky has been a faculty member at Rutgers University since 1976, with a passion for astronomy that began in high school through photography and led him to build a 6" reflecting telescope. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and completed his Ph.D. at Princeton in 1971, focusing on ultraviolet emissions from hot stars using data from rockets he helped launch. Matilsky contributed to Uhuru, NASA's first dedicated X-ray astronomy satellite, collaborating with pioneers like Riccardo Giacconi, who won a Nobel Prize in 2002. At Rutgers, he continued his research in x-ray and ultraviolet astronomy while also fostering education, directing the General Honors Program for seven years and creating an interdisciplinary course called "Physics and Photography." In the past decade, he has taught an online x-ray astronomy course for undergraduates and future high school teachers, while also exploring alternative theories of gravity. His lifetime contributions to astronomy education were recognized in 2012 with the Richard H. Emmons Prize from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.