Laurence E. Peterson is Emeritus Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, California.
He received his Ph.D in 1960 from the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

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He was a pioneer in the field of X-ray astronomy.
He led the high-energy astronomy group at UCSD for many years.
In addition to carrying out numerous experiments using high-altitude balloons, he was principal investigator on several NASA satellite experiments, including one on the OSO 1

Orbiting Solar Observatory

The Orbiting Solar Observatory Program was the name of a series of nine American science satellites primarily intended to study the Sun, though they also included important non-solar experiments. Eight were launched successfully by NASA between 1962 and 1975 using Delta rockets...

, one on OSO 3

Orbiting Solar Observatory

The Orbiting Solar Observatory Program was the name of a series of nine American science satellites primarily intended to study the Sun, though they also included important non-solar experiments. Eight were launched successfully by NASA between 1962 and 1975 using Delta rockets...

, two on OSO 7

OSO 7

OSO 7 is the seventh in the series of American Orbiting Solar Observatory satellites launched by NASA between 1962 and 1975...

, the A4 experiment on HEAO 1, and co-investigator on the The High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) flown on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer

Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer is a satellite that observes the time structure of astronomical X-ray sources. The RXTE has three instruments—the Proportional Counter Array, the High-Energy X-ray Timing Experiment , and one instrument called the All Sky Monitor...

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Major publications

• Instrumental Technique in X-Ray Astronomy. Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics 13, 423 (1975).

• 2-165 keV Observations of Active Galaxies and the Diffuse Background. With R.E. Rothschild, et al. Astrophys. J. 269, 423 (1982).

• A Scanning Modulation Collimator Observation of the High Energy X-Ray Source in the Crab Nebula. With R.M. Pelling et al. Astrophys. J. 319, 416 (1987).

• Observation of SN 1987A with the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer HEXAGONE. With C.G.L. Chapuis, et al. Astrophys. J. 403, 332 (1993).

• Compton-Backscattered Annihilation Radiation from the Galactic Center Region. With D.M. Smith et al. Astrophys. J, 414, 165 (1993).