Dr. Jane R. Rigby

Jane Rigby is a NASA astrophysicist. As the Senior Project Scientist for the Webb Telescope, her job is to maximize the scientific return from the most powerful telescope ever built. Her research focuses on how galaxies evolve over cosmic time, by using the techniques of diagnostic spectroscopy and gravitational lensing. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers, nand is an active user of the JWST, Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, Keck and Magellan observatories. Before coming to NASA in 2010, Dr. Rigby was a Spitzer Fellow and a Carnegie Fellow at the Carnegie Observatories; she holds PhD and MS degrees in Astronomy from the University of Arizona, and from Penn State a BS degree in Physics and a BS in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Dr. Rigby was one of the leaders of the team that commissioned the Webb telescope. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024, NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2022, and was the 2023 Fred Kavli Prize plenary lecturer for the American Astronomical Society.

Research website

The Webb Telescope’s Transformative Science

Now in science operations, NASA’s Webb Telescope is the most powerful telescope ever built. Science results are now pouring in from Webb like a waterfall. I will summarize what this Webb is, how it works, and the breadth and the depth of its science program, from planets in our own solar system to galaxies seen when the Universe was young. I’ll touch on the power of using Webb in combination with cosmic telescopes, also known as gravitational lenses. And I’ll throw in a few human stories about the international, collective effort of 20,000 people to build this telescope, and speculate on what these new views of the universe tell us about our place in the universe.