I read an article about him recently. His studies of impact geology changed the basic foundations of modern geology. Previously geologists frowned apon geological theories that involved major catastrophies, instead assuming everything important happened through slow, gradual processes such as plate tectonics. All the craters on the moon were thought to be volcanic in origin. His studies suggested that exterrestrial object impacts happened on a periodic basis and greatly affected the landscape.
His studies also greatly affected biologists, who adapted evolutionary theories to account for periodic impact catastrophies and resulting extinctions. Since then paleontologists and geologists have worked together to try to determine when major impacts took place and where.
Anyone mention that Eugene Shoemaker's ashes are in the probe? I guess this would be the first burial on the Moon or any extraterrestrial body.
It's rather fitting, though. He tried to become an Apollo astronaut, but failed due to health problems. He became one of the first experts on lunar geology and impact crater geology, and spent much of his later life searching for comets and Earth-crossing asteroids. He was the co-discoverer of the Shoemaker-Levy comet that struck Jupitor a few years back.
I'm surprised NASA's not playing this up more. I know they had some protests from a Native American group a while back for sending his ashes up, but I'm not sure the details of that.
Here's an article about the ashes: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/news82.html
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Here's a tribute page for Eugene by Carolyn Porco:
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http://condor.lpl.arizona.edu/~carolyn/tribute.
I read an article about him recently. His studies of impact geology changed the basic foundations of modern geology. Previously geologists frowned apon geological theories that involved major catastrophies, instead assuming everything important happened through slow, gradual processes such as plate tectonics. All the craters on the moon were thought to be volcanic in origin. His studies suggested that exterrestrial object impacts happened on a periodic basis and greatly affected the landscape.
His studies also greatly affected biologists, who adapted evolutionary theories to account for periodic impact catastrophies and resulting extinctions. Since then paleontologists and geologists have worked together to try to determine when major impacts took place and where.
Anyone mention that Eugene Shoemaker's ashes are in the probe? I guess this would be the first burial on the Moon or any extraterrestrial body.
It's rather fitting, though. He tried to become an Apollo astronaut, but failed due to health problems. He became one of the first experts on lunar geology and impact crater geology, and spent much of his later life searching for comets and Earth-crossing asteroids. He was the co-discoverer of the Shoemaker-Levy comet that struck Jupitor a few years back.
I'm surprised NASA's not playing this up more. I know they had some protests from a Native American group a while back for sending his ashes up, but I'm not sure the details of that.
Here's an article about the ashes:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/news82.html