Carl Grillmair, a Canadian astronomer and astrophysicist, died on February 16, 2026, after being fatally shot outside his home in Llano, California.
He was 67. Grillmair was a research scientist at the California Institute of Technology from 1997, where he studied exoplanets, galactic structure and dark matter.
He also worked on NASA missions including the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and discovered water on multiple exoplanets.
Carl Johann Grillmair (1959 – February 16, 2026) was a Canadian astronomer and astrophysicist. He was a research scientist at the California Institute of Technology since 1997, where he studied exoplanets, galactic structure, and dark matter. He was a scientist on prominent NASA telescope missions including the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and discovered water on multiple exoplanets.