The James Webb Space Telescope was launched into outer space on Christmas Day 2021 after 30 years of development — and July 12 marked the first anniversary of its initial images being beamed back, enthralling millions. The complex telescope features technology that permits scientists and even casual observers to witness never before seen pictures of the universe.

Despite being launched 2,809 miles away in Kourou, French Guiana, the telescope is connected to Newtown through the involvement of former resident Dr. H. Philip Stahl, PhD, who lived here from 1993 to 1999, and also had great-great grandparents who lived locally as well.

Regarding the extraterrestrial project, Stahl’s responsibilities included the development of “mirror technologies for the Webb Space Telescope and overseeing the manufacture, test, and certification of the Webb’s primary, secondary, and tertiary mirrors,” according to his personal biography.

In addition to the Webb Space Telescope, Stahl currently works as a Senior Optical Physicist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He also developed technology for both space and ground telescopes, along with contributing content to over 150 publications. He additionally holds two patents, and has been involved in the optical industry for over 40 years.

In a recent interview with The Newtown Bee, Stahl said his passion for telescopes and the bettering of related technology has been a driving passion dating back to childhood. He described himself as being a “geek” growing up, reading advanced books by the time he finished sixth grade, attempting to build a laser pointer in ninth grade, and advancing an interest in photography that served as his biggest inspirations for what he wanted to do in life.

“When I was in sixth grade, I was reading a lot, so one of the books I read was [about] Einstein’s theory of relativity, which was interesting trying to explain to my dad, who was a farmer,” Stahl said. “When I was in ninth grade, I wanted to make a laser, so I talked my dad into buying a kit on the back of Popular Science magazine, and it was a total scam. It wasn’t a laser, it was never going to work, but by then I did research and understood what a laser was and what radiation was.”

Lens Lessons Learned

After graduating from high school in Bellevue, Washington in 1975, those experiences would inspire Stahl to further his interest, going on to complete his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics and Mathematics at Wittenberg University in 1979, along with both his Master’s in Science and PhD in Optical Science at the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center in 1983 and 1985, respectively.

Stahl said that many of the lessons learned during his educational journey, along with hands-on experiences working at Raytheon Danbury (now Danbury Mission Technologies), while he resided in Newtown still apply decades later, specifically with the development of the Webb Space Telescope.

“All of the academic preparation is building the foundation of the skill set that you need,” he said. “But the actual skills that you put into practice, are the ones that you gain from the work experience."

Stahl said the time he spent in Connecticut working at Raytheon provided key experiences he was able to bring to the Webb Space Telescope project years later.

Upon finishing school, Stahl said he worked for an array of different companies, including Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Breault Research Organization, Hughes Aircraft, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Eventually, he made his way to Connecticut, settling for several years in Newtown and working for PerkinElmer in Danbury.

Despite only staying for roughly six years, he related many fond memories of living in the area, along with recalling the friends that he and his family made along the way.

“Our time in Newtown was short, but because of the family history, we felt connected to the town, lots of relatives in the cemetery,” he said. “We’ve made many good friends and we still have many friends in Newtown."

Stahl said most of those friendships were formed through involvement with the Newtown United Baptist Church, participating in local Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts activities, through Head O’Meadow Elementary School as well as through his family's historical connections.

"In our short time there, we made a lot of good friends and we are still in touch with many of those friends even though some of them have moved away from Newtown,” he continued.

Stahl left Newtown to continue pursuing his dream, eventually landing a position with NASA in 1999 where he said he stopped "doing real work, and started having people do real work for me.”

Developing Telescopes

Since his hiring, Stahl has managed the SBIR Sub-Topics and technology development contracts, which as a result, helped create new companies and jobs all over the world.

He played major roles in developing many of the world’s largest telescopes, including the instruments at the Keck Observatory, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and Gemini telescopes, which all employed the use of phase-measuring Interferometers that he was also responsible for developing.

The Webb Space Telescope and other projects Stahl worked on are described as “multi-generation” — a single project can take decades to be completed.

“NASA started spending money on Hubble technology in 1964, although it did not launch until 1990, so 26 years it took from start to finish,” he said. “The agency started thinking about Webb in 1989, launched it on Christmas 2021, so that was 32 years. We started spending money on it in 1996…it takes a long time to do these kinds of things.”

With the Webb project complete, and up and running, Stahl and his team at NASA have been able to see firsthand some of the new discoveries it is making in the galaxy — most recently finding a “dark star,” which had never been caught on camera before. Stahl believes obtaining never before seen views will influence how individuals view and understand the universe in the future.

“The Webb data is definitely going to change a lot of textbooks,” he said. “I think it leads to a different understanding of the age of the universe that will probably come into the general thinking of the average person.”

Stahl said he has been working on the World Observatory since 2011, with the hope it will be launched sometime in the 2040s with a mission to potentially spot new life on other planets. It has been quite a journey for Stahl, who also imparted sage advice on following one's dreams.

“You can’t predict the future, so you have to make sure that you are prepared for the future,” he said.

"You need to build a really solid foundation of skills, knowledge, and understanding, and then you need to make sure you are doing things that you really like doing, and that you’re really good at," he added, "because I can’t think of anything sadder than to be doing something you don’t like for a long period of time. The future takes care of itself if you prepare for it, and you prepare for it by building that really solid foundation.”

See more Webb Space telescope images and learn more by clicking HERE

Reporter/Intern Owen Brown is currently a student at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), and can be reached at owen@thebee.com.