Stuart Bowyer, pioneer of EUV astronomy and SETI, dies at 86

Stuart Bowyer, an astronomer who convinced NASA to launch the first satellite to study the heavens in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths and started one of the longest running searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in the world, died Sept. 23 at a hospital near his home in Orinda, California. His family said the cause was complications associated with COVID-19. Bowyer, a professor emeritus of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, was 86. Charles Stuart Bowyer, or Stu, as he was known to friends and foes, was brash and bold, enthusiastic and pushy, hard-working and fun-loving. While he himself admitted that he wasn't necessarily the best mind in the room, he was astute enough to choose the best people to work with. "This may be his greatest scientific achievement - attracting very good graduate students and postdocs and helping them develop into world leaders," said Bowyer's longtime friend and colleague Forrest Mozer, professor emeritus of physics at UC Berkeley.