November 11, 1969 George Robert Carruthers was awarded patent number 3,478,216 for his Image Converter for Detecting Electromagnetic Radiation. His machine was flown to the moon on the 1972 Apollo 16 mission to obtain images of earth and outer space. Carruthers was born October 1, 1939 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1961, Master of Science degree in 1962, and his Ph.D. in 1964 from the University of Illinois. Carruthers has spent his career in the Space Science Division of the Naval Research Laboratory developing space telescopes and other photometric instruments. He is also active with SMART (Science, Mathematics, Aerospace, Research and Technology), which encourages black teachers and students to pursue science and technology. Carruthers was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May, 2003 and in 2009 was honored as a Distinguished Lecturer at the Office of Naval Research for his achievements in the field of space science.
