Kenneth G. McCracken, AO (born 7 August 1933) is an Australian physicist and leading space scientist, foundation Director of the CSIRO ( Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Office of Space Science and Applications and Foundation Chief of the CSIRO Division of Mineral Physics. He had earlier worked in the United States of America for several years where he occasionally worked as a consultant for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Kenneth McCracken was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the only child of Richard McCracken and Elisabeth Menzies (both Scottish emigrants). Kenneth was educated at Morooka Primary, Brisbane (1939), Deepdene Primary, Melbourne (1940–43) and Telopea Park Primary,

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

(1943–44); his secondary schooling was at Canberra High School (1945–46) and

Hobart High School Hobart High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, situated in the village of Loddon, near Norwich in Norfolk, England. It typically has around 850 pupils. The school previously had specialist science college status ...

(1946-49). McCracken then studied at the University of Tasmania where he obtained a Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc (Hons)) in 1954; and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 1959. From 1961 to 1962 McCracken was assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; from 1963 to 1965 he was a member of the NASA Space Radiation Protection Committee; from 1966 to 1969, he was a professor at the University of Adelaide. McCracken was awarded the Pawsey Medal of the Australian Academy of Science in 1969, the Gold Medal of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the

Australia Prize The Australia Prize was Australia's pre-eminent prize for scientific research from 1990 until 2000, when it was replaced by the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science. The award was international, 10 of the 28 recipients were not Australians. Recipie ...

(jointly) in 1995 and the Ian William Wark Medal (2001) and Haddon King Medal (2003) of the Australian Academy of Science. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1989. McCracken was the Principal Investigator of an experiment on the

Pioneer 7 Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

mission. His entertaining autobiography biography is "Blast Off", , published by New Holland Publishers in 2008.

External links

Audio interview with Ken McCracken by Richard Fidler
at Australian Broadcasting Corporation website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCracken, Kenneth 1933 births Living people Australian physicists University of Tasmania alumni Officers of the Order of Australia NASA people Australia Prize recipients