William P. Blair

William P. Blair is an astrophysicist and research professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University. In January 2023, he concluded his functional work as the Project Scientist for User Support for the James Webb Space Telescope project at the Space Telescope Science Institute, but continues to pursue both ground-based and space-based research activities at JHU.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, Blair worked on the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) (FUSE) mission at Johns Hopkins, where he served as head of mission planning from 1996 to 2000 and then as Chief of Observatory Operations from 2000 through the end of the mission contract in mid-2009.

Bill first came to JHU in 1984 to work on another telescope project called the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope. HUT flew twice as an attached payload on the space shuttle (in 1990 and 1995) as part of the Astro Spacelab missions. Here is a brief high-level summary of the Astro missions, written in the format of a magazine article.

Bill is also a user of various instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, as well as other space-based and ground-based facilities in Arizona and Chile.

Education and Outreach

As a research professor, Bill's official duties involve scientific research and support activites, but he is very interested in educational activities as well. Here are links to photos, outreach materials, and educational write-ups he has put together or been involved with developing for the public:

• Info for Primary and Secondary Educators
  Includes Solar System Size and Scale examples, "How much is a Billion?", the Toilet Paper Timeline example, and more.
• What are Those Squiggly Lines? Using Light to Learn About the Universe

Send E-MAIL to Bill Blair

Last updated: June 2026.