Dr. Jay Apt
Jay Apt graduated from Harvard in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in physics. He completed his doctoral work in experimental atomic physics at MIT and in 1976 joined the Center for Earth and Planetary Physics at Harvard, studying the weather on Venus. He later directed the observatory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, and worked in NASA’s mission control center in Houston.
Dr. Apt has spent more than 847 hours in space on four Space Shuttle missions, and performed two space walks. He has been to the Russian space station Mir, and is the recipient of NASA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal.
He is a pilot and aircraft owner with over 5,000 hours of experience in 25 types of aircraft, sailplanes, and human-powered aircraft. He has flown single-engine aircraft to Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Alaska, and Central America.
An award-winning photographer, Apt shares his images and knowledge of the Earth in Orbit: NASA Astronauts Photograph the Earth, edited by Roger Ressmeyer and published by the National Geographic Society in 1996. The book has been printed in eleven languages; more than 600,000 copies are in print.
After spending more than 35 days in space, Jay Apt became the Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, one of the six largest research museums in the world, where he led a turnaround of the museum’s research and public programs. A decade-long decline in attendance was reversed, with solid growth. Modern exhibits and first-class scientific research became the hallmarks of the museum. The museum was named "best museum in Pittsburgh" in 1999. After leaving the museum, he became Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer at a venture capital firm.
Dr. Apt is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and the Department of Engineering and Public Policy.
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