Robert A. Woodruff is an American physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 who is known principally for having designed and worked on a wide variety of instruments for space telescopes. These include Skylab

Skylab

Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...

 (1967–1970), Apollo-Soyuz
(1970s), Galileo(~1980), SIRTF and MIPS (1970s-1990s), and Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...

 instruments [1977–present] (GHRS, STIS, COSTAR

Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement

The Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement is the instrument designed to correct Hubble Space Telescope's spherical aberration for light focused at the FOC, FOS and GHRS instruments. Built by Ball Aerospace Corp., it replaced the High Speed Photometer during the first Hubble...

, ACS, COS, WFC3); JWST (1995–2000), Kepler (mid-1990s), TPF

Terrestrial Planet Finder

The Terrestrial Planet Finder was a proposed project by NASA to construct a system of telescopes for detecting extrasolar terrestrial planets. TPF was postponed several times and finally cancelled...

 (2001 to present), and Destiny

Dark Energy Space Telescope

The Dark Energy Space Telescope , was a planned project by NASA and DOE, designed to perform precision measurements of the universe to provide an understanding of dark energy...

(2003–present). He has had one or more instruments flying continuously in space since the early 1970s.

Works

• R. Woodruff, B. Woodgate, C. Ludtke. "Optical Design of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, a Third Generation HST axial science instrument", Proc. SPIE, Vol. 3356, p. 249, Kona, (1998).