Astronomer Judith Pipher, who earned her Ph.D. from Cornell in 1971, was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y., earlier this year. She is now one of four living women to have received the honor.

While at Cornell, Pipher focused her research in the field of infrared astronomy with some of the first rocket-borne telescopes. She then served on the faculty of the University of Rochester, where she and her colleagues were the first U.S. astronomers to turn an infrared array toward the skies.

Her experiments with ground-based and airborne telescopes culminated in the development of a camera for, and infrared observations on, the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003.