Alan Stern
S. Alan Stern is the Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Formerly a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, he remains the Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto. He was Executive Director of the Southwest Research Institute's Space Science and Engineering Division until leaving for NASA on March 21, 2007.
Biography
From 1983 to 1991 Stern held positions at the University of Colorado in the Center for Space and Geoscience Policy, the office of the Vice President for Research, and the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy. He received his doctorate in 1989. From 1991 to 1994 he was the leader of Southwest Research Institute's Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences group and was Chair of NASA's Outer Planets Science Working Group. From 1994 to 1998 he was the leader of the Geophysical, Astrophysical, and Planetary Science section in Southwest Research Institute's Space Sciences Department, and from 1998 to 2005 he was the Director of the Department of Space Studies at Southwest Research Institute. In 1995 he was selected to be a Space Shuttle mission specialist finalist and in 1996 he was a candidate Space Shuttle payload specialist.
His research has focused on studies of our solar system's Kuiper belt and Oort cloud, comets, the satellites of the outer planets, Pluto, and the search for evidence of solar systems around other stars. He has also worked on spacecraft rendezvous theory, terrestrial polar mesospheric clouds, galactic astrophysics, and studies of tenuous satellite atmospheres, including the atmosphere of the Moon.
Involvement in planetary classification
Stern has become particularly involved in the debate surrounding the 2006 redefinition of planet by the IAU. After the IAU's decision was made he was quoted as saying "It's an awful definition; it's sloppy science and it would never pass peer review" and claimed that Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune have not fully cleared their orbital zones[1] and has stated in his capacity as PI of the New Horizons project that "The New Horizons project [...] will not recognize the IAU's planet definition resolution of August 24, 2006."[2]
A 2000 paper by Stern and Levison proposed a system of planet classification that included both the concepts of hydrostatic equilibrium and clearing the neighbourhood used in the new definition,[3] with a proposed classification scheme labelling all sub-stellar objects in hydrostatic equilibrium as "planets" and subclassifying them into "überplanets" and "unterplanets" based on a mathematical analysis of the planet's ability to scatter other objects out of its orbit over a long period of time. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were classified as neighborhood-clearing "überplanets" and Pluto was classified as an "unterplanet." One could take this classification system as planet and dwarf planet, respectively.
In 2007, Stern was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.
Publications
- Stern, S. Alan (1987). The U.S. Space Program After Challenger. New York: Franklin-Watts. ISBN 0-531-10412-5.
- Stern, S. Alan; Jacqueline Mitton (1997, 2005). Pluto and Charon: Ice Worlds on the Ragged Edge of the Solar System. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 3-527-40556-9.
Edited:
- (1998) in S. Alan Stern: Our Worlds: The Magnetism and Thrill of Planetary Exploration. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521631645.
- (2000) in S. Alan Stern: Our Universe. Cambridge University Press.
- (2003) in S. Alan Stern: Worlds Beyond: The Thrill of Planetary Exploration as told by Leading Experts. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521520010.
References
- ^ Rincon, Paul (25 August 2006). Pluto vote 'hijacked' in revolt. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ Stern, Alan (September 6, 2006). Unabashedly Onward to the Ninth Planet. The PI's Perspective. New Horizons Web Site. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
- ^ Stern, S. Alan; Levison, Harold F. (2002). "Regarding the criteria for planethood and proposed planetary classification schemes" (PDF). Highlights of Astronomy 12: 205-213, as presented at the XXIVth General Assembly of the IAU - 2000 [Manchester, UK, 7 - 18 August 2000].
External links
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