Theodore P. Stecher
A scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center since its inception, and a true pioneer in space-based UV astronomy, Theodore (Ted) P. Stecher died at home in Silver Spring, Maryland on 29 October 2017. He was 86.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1930, Ted was the first child of Laura W. Potter and German chemist Paul G. Stecher, who married at the beginning of the Great Depression and lived in Kansas, New York, and New Jersey before ending their marriage. Paul abandoned his children, continued as a chemist, and eventually became the author/editor of the Merck Index. Laura began teaching school in Maryland but was not permitted to bring her children, so they lived with her parents in Iowa City. After a year, Laura secured a job teaching French and Latin in Waterloo, Iowa and raised her children there.
During his youth, Ted earned money delivering newspapers, selling shoes, and playing taps on his trumpet at military burials. At the University of Iowa, he was drum major for the marching band, earned philosophy (BA) and astronomy (MS) degrees, and met Elizabeth Olney, an art student from Marathon, Iowa. Ted and Elizabeth married in 1956. They moved to Ann Arbor, where Ted pursued a PhD in astronomy at the University of Michigan. In June of 1959, with all but his dissertation complete, Ted accepted a position as staff astronomer with the newly established NASA.
At Goddard Space Flight Center, Ted used instruments on sounding rockets, satellites, and the space shuttle to capture UV spectra and images, making novel discoveries that furthered our understanding of stellar and interstellar content, star formation, nebulae, globular clusters, and the structure and evolution of galaxies. He discovered the 2200-angstrom bump, a pronounced absorption of UV starlight which he attributed to the presence of graphite in the interstellar medium. His seminal paper with David A. Williams on the photodestruction of hydrogen molecules into atoms in interstellar clouds is widely cited by theorists working on primordial star formation. Ted collaborated on the Astronomical Netherlands Satellite, the first Dutch satellite, and made observations with the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite. He proposed and served as the principal investigator for the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), part of the Astro-1 and Astro-2 astronomy missions flown aboard space shuttles Columbia and Endeavour, respectively. Notably, after Astro-1, Astrophysical Journal Letters dedicated an entire issue to papers from a single research team (UIT)—a first for the journal.
Ted was the first recipient of Goddard’s highest achievement award in space science, the John C. Lindsay Memorial Award. He also garnered two NASA Medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and several group achievement awards. He retired after 43 years with NASA but retained an emeritus position and office for several years thereafter. Ted was stimulated, challenged, and rewarded by his work at Goddard; it was his passion.
Ted kept fit with daily calisthenics and neighborhood runs, and he intrepidly explored family hiking, camping, skiing, sailing, and taking in the ocean. He considered arts patronage important, and later in life he regularly attended classical, jazz, and opera performances as well as Elizabeth’s art exhibitions. Ted was quietly but fervently devoted to his family throughout his life. They share his passions and are thankful for his positive influence in their lives. He and Elizabeth had recently celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary.
Theodore P. Stecher is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, his children, Alan, Martin (Denise), Sarah (Michael), and Byron, seven grandchildren (Teslin and Gray Stecher, Elsa and Aurea Sellmeyer, Emily, Ben, and Julia Brehm-Stecher), and his sister Joan Byrne. Memorial donations may be made to the John and Jane Mather Foundation for Science and the Arts , 3400 Rosemary Lane, Hyattsville, MD 20782-1033.
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