Kimmo Albin Innanen (March 12, 1937 – August 3, 2011) was a Canadian astrophysicist of Finnish descent.

Early life and education

Kim grew up in Toronto. His first language was Finnish. He obtained a bachelor's degree in engineering physics with honors from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. In 1960, he received his master's degree in applied mathematics at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

. He completed his doctorate at the University of Toronto in 1964.

Career

In 1966, he joined the Department of Physics (later Physics and Astronomy) at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. His research in

celestial mechanics Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to ...

, galactic dynamics, and later in

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

applications and

asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

, led to the publication of more than 100 papers. In 1990, with

Seppo Mikkola Seppo Mikkola (born 1947) is a Finnish astronomer. He is a senior lecturer at the University of Turku and staff member at Tuorla Observatory. Mikkola is a leading expert in celestial mechanics. He has made fundamental contributions to the theory ...

, he predicted the existence of

Mars Trojans The Mars trojans are a group of trojan objects that share the orbit of the planet Mars around the Sun. They can be found around the two Lagrangian points 60° ahead of and behind Mars. The origin of the Mars trojans is not well understood. One ...

, confirmed by subsequent discovery and, in 1997, he was involved in the discovery of the Earth's first co-orbital companion asteroid, 3753 Cruithne. He served as the dean of science from 1986 to 1994. He received an honorary degree from the

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

in 1995. The asteroid (3497) Innanen was named in his honor in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innanen, Kimmo 1937 births 2011 deaths Canadian astrophysicists University of Toronto alumni University of Waterloo alumni University of Western Ontario alumni Canadian people of Finnish descent

Early life and education

Career

See also

References