Marcia Neugebauer
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Marcia Neugebauer (born September 27, 1932) is a prominent
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
who made contributions to
space physics Space physics, also known as solar-terrestrial physics or space-plasma physics, is the study of plasmas as they occur naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (aeronomy) and within the Solar System. As such, it encompasses a far-ranging number of ...
. Neugebauer's research was among the first that yielded the first direct measurements of the
solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sola ...
and shed light on its physics and interaction with
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
s.


Life

Neugebauer was born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. She received a B.A. in
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
from
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
in 1954, followed by an M.S. in physics from the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
in
Urbana __NOTOC__ Urbana can refer to: Places Italy *Urbana, Italy United States *Urbana, Illinois **Urbana (conference), a Christian conference formerly held in Urbana, Illinois *Urbana, Indiana * Urbana, Iowa *Urbana, Kansas * Urbana, Maryland *Urbana, ...
in 1956. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Physics in 1998 by the
University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...
. She was married to astrophysicist
Gerry Neugebauer Gerhart "Gerry" Neugebauer (3 September 1932 – 26 September 2014) was an American astronomer known for his pioneering work in infrared astronomy. Neugebauer was born in Göttingen, Germany and was the son of Otto Neugebauer, an Austrian-Ameri ...
.


Work

Neugebauer was an investigator of the
Mariner 2 Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the Bl ...
plasma Plasma or plasm may refer to: Science * Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter * Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral * Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics Biology * Blood pla ...
analyzer that made the first extensive measurements of the solar wind and discovery of its properties. She also developed analytical instruments that orbited Earth, some set up on the moon by the
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
astronauts, and others that flew by
Halley's comet Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the o ...
on the European
Giotto mission ''Giotto'' was a European robotic spacecraft mission from the European Space Agency. The spacecraft flew by and studied Halley's Comet and in doing so became the first spacecraft to make close up observations of a comet. On 13 March 1986, the s ...
. Neugebauer was Study Scientist for many space missions during her long career with
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
and held several management positions at the Propulsion Laboratory, including Manager of the Physics and Space Physics sections, Manager of the
Mariner Mark II Mariner Mark II was NASA's planned family of unmanned spacecraft for the exploration of the outer Solar System that were to be developed and operated by JPL between 1980 through the year 2010. Summary After the "flagship" multibillion-dollar ...
study team, and Project Scientist for Rangers 1 and 2 and the
Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) was a cancelled plan for a NASA-led exploratory mission designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, that planned to send a spacecraft to encounter an asteroid ...
mission. Neugebauer served as president of the
American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's act ...
from 1994-1996 and was Editor-in-Chief of its journal ''
Reviews of Geophysics ''Reviews of Geophysics'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Geophysical Union. The current editor-in-chief is Fabio Florindo (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology– ...
''. She also chaired the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
' Committee on Solar and Space Physics.


Awards and honors

In 1967 the Museum of Science and Industry named Neugebauer "California Woman Scientist of the Year." She received many awards from NASA, including the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award, the Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the
Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...
(the highest award given by NASA). In 1997 she was inducted in the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. In 2004 Neugebauer was awarded the William Kaula Award and in 2010 was awarded the
Arctowski Medal The Arctowski Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for studies in solar physics and solar-terrestrial relationships." Named in honor of Henryk Arctowski, it was first awarded in 1969. List of Arctowski Medal winners SourceN ...
from the National Academy of Sciences "for definitively establishing the existence of the solar wind, critical to understanding the physics of the heliosphere, and for elucidating many of its key properties." In 2010 Neugebauer was awarded the
George Ellery Hale Prize The George Ellery Hale Prize, or Hale Prize, is awarded annually by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society for outstanding contributions over an extended period of time to the field of solar astronomy. The prize is named in ...
of the Solar Physics Division of the
American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...
"for her seminal contributions to the discovery of the solar wind and her extensive and ongoing contributions to solar-heliospheric physics."


References


External links


Oral history interview transcript with Marcia Neugebauer on 18 July 2017, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives

Pioneers of space physics: A career in the solar wind - Marcia Neugebauer (J. of Geophysical Research)


* ttp://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/119285/Marcia-Neugebauer-Distinguised-visiting-scientist-Jet-Propulsion-Laboratory/ WITI Hall of Fame - Marcia Neugebauer
American Geophysical Union, Past President Biographies: 1980-2000



Neugebauer Receives 2004 Kaula Award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neugebauer, Marcia American geophysicists 1932 births Living people American women physicists Cornell University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American physicists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists Women geophysicists