Abstract
If one followed the extensive media coverage of the James Webb Space Telescope, one might conclude that infrared astronomy is having its moment. In anticipation of the long-awaited December 2021 launch, print, television, and social media frequently amplified stories of the space-based infrared observatory and its scientific goals. Renee M. Rottner, Assistant Teaching Professor of Technology Management at the University of California-Santa Barbara, reminds readers that this public attention is but a moment in a longer history of infrared astronomers building tools to observe beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
In Making the Invisible Visible: A History of the Spitzer Infrared Telescope Facility (1971-2003), Rottner presents a chronology of the project that became the Spitzer Infrared Telescope Facility (SITF). SITF was the last of NASA’s “Great Observatories.” Launched in 2003, its infrared observations complimented data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Designed and operated by government, industry, and university stakeholders, SITF observed the universe for 16 years and contributed to numerous discoveries, including a giant ring around Saturn, and confirmed the value of space-based infrared observatories.
Making the Invisible Visible focuses on the 30-plus years that preceded the telescope’s launch, with an emphasis on the planning and management of this project. Rottner shows how decision makers and project managers realized SITF through changing political and economic circumstances. She presents their discussions, debates, and decisions against the backdrop of scientific and technological developments, including the legitimization and growth of the field of infrared astronomy and the start of NASA’s space shuttle program. Brief biographies of key participants enliven and enrich the chronological account of SITF, as Rottner makes visible the ways in which personal experiences and personality shaped the project.
Rottner balances written documentation with first-hand accounts to reconstruct the origins and management of SITF. In addition to combing through meeting minutes, conference proceedings, project briefings, and government reports, she conducted oral history interviews with 29 contributors to SITF. Making the Invisible Visible features extensive excerpts from these interviews. Rottner allows space for participants to place their work in broader contexts based on their understanding of events. Bringing relevant scholarship into conversation with these recollections, to reinforce or challenge them, would have strengthened the analysis.
Ultimately, Rottner argues that SITF is a valuable case study in “managing innovation over time and in the face of uncertainty” (p. xii). The book concludes with a chapter dedicated to key takeaways, summarized in three categories and illustrated with direct quotes from interview subjects. Rottner emphasizes the importance of nurturing relationships within teams of collaborators, challenging cultural and organizational barriers to collaboration, and creating and maintaining interfaces between working groups that make sense for the project at hand. That her book provides actionable recommendations is appropriate for her intended readership. Making the Invisible Visible is part of the Monographs in Aerospace History series from NASA’s History Division. The History Division collects and stewards historical records and supports scholarship as a public service and for the benefit of agency decision makers.
This concise, generously illustrated project history will pique many curiosities, not all of which will be satisfied by book’s end. It may, however, inspire historians to ask new and different questions about the SITF and how its history intersects with or diverges from scholarship in the history of science and technology. An extensive appendix featuring the names of dozens of contributors to SITF provides a head start for future research. A contribution to management studies and the history of astronomy, Making the Invisible Visible is a valuable reference for practitioners and historians alike.
