Frederick Carl Gillett (February 7, 1937 – April 22, 2001) was an American astronomer who was a pioneer of infrared astronomy.

[1] As a graduate student at the university he took an interest in the new field of infrared astronomy, under the guidance of his doctoral advisor Edward P.

[3] As part of his thesis Gillett used an infrared photometer attached to a high-altitude balloon to observe the zodiacal cloud.

In 1973, with his university colleagues William Forrest and Kenneth Merrill, he identified an unexpected infrared emission feature with a wavelength of 11.3μm from the planetary nebulae NGC 7027 and HD 184738.

[8] They concluded the emissions were caused by circumstellar dust particles over 1.2 mm (0.05 in) in diameter orbiting Vega at a distance of roughly 85 AU (1.3×1010 km) and at a temperature of about 85 K (−188.2 °C).

[2] In 1994 Gillett was appointed the project scientist for the development of the International Gemini Observatory, a pair of 8.1 m (27 ft) optical/infrared telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i and Cerro Pachón in Chile that saw first light in 1999 and 2000 respectively.