Carolyn S. Shoemaker

Carolyn S. Shoemaker

Born June 24, 1929 (1929-06-24) (age 82)
Gallup, New Mexico, United States
Nationality American
Fields Astronomy
Institutions California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California
Palomar Observatory, San Diego, California
Known for co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9
Notable awards National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal

Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker (born 1929) is an American astronomer and is a co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.[1] She holds the record for most comets discovered by an individual.[2]

Contents

Personal life

Carolyn Jean Spellmann was born in Gallup, New Mexico, United States.[2] She is the widow of Eugene Shoemaker, who was also an astronomer.[2]

Career

Shoemaker started her astronomical career in 1980, searching for Earth-crossing asteroids and comets at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, and the Palomar Observatory, San Diego, California.[3]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Shoemaker used film taken at the wide-field telescope at the Palomar Observatory, combined with a stereoscope, to find objects which moved against the background of fixed stars.[2]

As of 2002, Shoemaker had discovered 32 comets and over 800 asteroids (counting the as-yet unnumbered ones).[2][3]

Awards

Shoemaker received an honorary doctorate from the Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1996.[2] She and her husband were awarded the James Craig Watson Medal by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1998.[4]

Asteroids discovered

References

  1. ^ Mestel, Rosie (9 July 1994). "Carolyn Shoemaker and 'Her Comet'". New Scientist 143 (1933): p. 23. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_shoemaker_a.htm. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Carolyn Shoemaker". Astrogeology Science Center. USGS. http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/About/People/CarolynShoemaker/. 
  3. ^ a b "She's Looking Out for Us". Explorer (American Association of Petroleum Geologists). May 2001. http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2001/05may/denver_c_shoemaker.cfm. 
  4. ^ "James Craig Watson Medal". National Academy of Sciences. http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_watson. 

External links