Dr. Jonathan F. Ormes
Population, Affluence and the Human Future:
An Astronomer’s Perspective
Seeing the heavens from above the Earth has given humans a new perspective on our place in the universe. We know a lot about how the universe, and indeed matter on all scales evolves, and the microscopic place we humans occupy. As we can see from space, humans are having a global scale impact on the arable land and the oceans that feed us and on the air we breathe. Our numbers and our enjoyment of the “good life” are the driving forces behind human impacts to our planet Earth. How many of us can the planet support and for how long? Are we another transient species? These and other provocative questions will be posed in this talk.
Dr. Jonathan F. Ormes is a Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Denver. Formerly Dr. Ormes was the Director of Space Sciences at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He was responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing the Center’s programs and research in space science. He retired from the government in July 2004 to assume his current position. He recently retired from being Director of the Denver Research Institute at DU. He was appointed Director of DRI on Feburary 1, 2005.
Dr. Ormes received his undergraduate degree in physics from Stanford University and his doctorate, also in physics, from the University of Minnesota in 1967. His thesis work involved measuring the spectra of hydrogen, helium, and heavier nuclei in the cosmic radiation on balloons at a variety of different locations in the Earth's magnetic field and different times during the solar cycle. He moved to Goddard in 1967 where his research focused on measurements of galactic cosmic ray spectra at high energies, isotopic composition, and more recently on measurements of antimatter. He was made a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his work on cosmic ray spectra and composition. He was the Project Scientist for the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) until it was launched on August 25, 1997. He is currently active as a member of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) collaboration for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (formerly known as GLAST) and of the the team working on the Balloon-borne Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS) studying antimatter in and other aspects of galactic cosmic rays. He recently returned from Stanford where he spent 9 months helping ready the LAT telescope data for public release this coming fall and has participated in the collaboration’s many publications on pulsars, black holes, gamma-ray bursts and cosmic ray related subjects. This satellite is improving dramatically on the pioneering studies made by the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. He is the author and co-author of more than 100 experimental and theoretical papers.
Recently he has turned his attention to understanding the issues involved in our stewardship of the planet, including global warming, species extinctions, land and water issues and how these issues are driven by increasing population and affluence. He has given 5 invited lectures on this topic at various venues in Denver during the past 2 years.
Dr. Ormes has extensive experience in science management. He was Head of the Nuclear Astrophysics Branch from 1982 until 1990 when he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service and assumed the position of Chief of the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics. In 1983, he served as the Acting Head of High Energy Astrophysics at NASA Headquarters. He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Award for his efforts in that capacity. In October of 2000, he was appointed Director of Space Sciences. He was awarded a Presidential Rank Award as a Meritorious Executive in 2001.
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