Dr. F. Duccio Macchetto is an Emeritus Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Born in Italy in 1942, Dr. Macchetto received his Masters degree of from the University of Córdoba, Argentina in 1963 and his Doctorate degree in Physics from the University of Rome in 1965.
Dr. Macchetto has spent his professional life working in space research and specifically on bilateral space astronomy projects between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
He started his space astronomy career when he was competitively awarded a United Kingdom Royal Society fellowship. He worked at the Culham Laboratory in England in 1968 where he designed, built and launched a number of rocket-borne ultraviolet astronomy payloads. In England he was also responsible for the design of the telescope and spectrograph that was later flown in the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite, the first NASA/ESA collaboration in a space astronomy project. In 1973, he moved to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) technical center in Holland to become Project Scientist for ESA’s participation in the IUE project, and was the first Scientific Director of the IUE station in Madrid.
Given his expertise in space astronomy and his excellent connections with NASA, in 1975 Dr. Macchetto was assigned responsibility for leading the study that defined ESA’s participation in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). After the project was approved by both NASA and ESA, he became the ESA HST Project Scientist and Principal Investigator for the Faint Object Camera (FOC), the ESA instrument on board the HST. As Principal Investigator, he was responsible for the overall scientific design and implementation of the FOC and its later utilization and scientific exploitation.
In 1983 he moved to the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) the international scientific and operational center that with 500 staff members is responsible for the mission operations and scientific utilization of the HST observatory. From 1983 to his retirement in 2010, he held a number of positions leading to that of Associate Director at the STScI. His responsibilities included international policy and operational aspects for the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition he continued with his duties as the ESA’s HST Project Scientist and Mission Manager and was selected as ESA’s HST Division Head with full responsibility to ensure and manage the continued ESA contributions to the Project.
He was also instrumental in securing the participation of ESA in the next major space astronomy project, the James Webb Space Telescope which will be launched in 2018.
In October 2007 he retired from the European Space Agency and held an appointment as Senior Astronomer at the STScI.
In 2010 he was elected Emeritus Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
He has authored more than 400 scientific and technical papers. His research interests include the process of formation of galaxies at early epochs in the Universe; the study of active galaxies, in particular, the study of black holes, optical jets and the investigation of the nuclear regions of active galaxies. He also participated in the work of a team, whose objective was to determine the expansion rate of the Universe.
Dr. Macchetto is a member of the International Astronomical Union, the American Astronomical Society, the European Astronomical Society, as well as the Italian, Dutch and Argentinian Astronomical Societies. He was elected a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics in 2005 and of the National Academy of Sciences of Argentina in 2010.
He is the recipient of several major awards including the United States Presidential Award for Design Excellence for his contributions to the IUE observatory, NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Medal for his role on the HST observatory and the International Aeronautics and Astronautics Achievement Award also for his contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope Observatory.