The presentation will relate some of the history and development of the JWST from the viewpoint of a physicist and materials engineer who was involved in the effort from the capture of the program to the testing of the Optical Telescope Element.  Jim Tucker’s specific areas of contribution were centered on materials evaluation in a cryogenic environment and optical metrology.  Interesting aspects of the telescope structure, mirror development, and testing will be discussed. 

About the Presenter:

Jim Tucker is the Director of the Advanced Technology Development Department at Kratos SRE.  He leads a team that specializes in materials characterization and precision testing of materials and structures.  Jim Tucker is a physicist with almost four decades of experience in test development, characterization, and data analysis of advanced composite materials and structures, with specific expertise in non-destructive testing, metrology, and precision deformation measurements in space simulation environments.  He directed the teams that pioneered cryogenic vacuum interferometer testing for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and has developed cutting edge technology in multiple areas related to measurement science with patents in the fields of ultrasonic spectroscopy and optical metrology.