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Eugene Merle Shoemaker
Sign in to saveAlso known as Eugene M. Shoemaker, E.M. Shoemaker, Eugene M Shoemaker, E. M. Shoemaker, EM Shoemaker, E M Shoemaker
American geologist and astronomer
OverviewAI-generated
Eugene Merle Shoemaker was an American astronomer and geologist born in Los Angeles in 1928. He was educated at the California Institute of Technology and Princeton University. His professional career included positions at the United States Geological Survey and the California Institute of Technology, with work locations that included Tübingen. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
Shoemaker’s field of work encompassed geology and planetary geology. He received several awards, including the Arthur L. Day Medal, the National Medal of Science, the William Bowie Medal, and the G. K. Gilbert Award. He was married to Carolyn S. Shoemaker. He died in Alice Springs in 1997 from accidental causes related to a traffic collision. He is buried on the Moon.
Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1928-04-28 ) April 28, 1928, Los Angeles, California, US
- Died
- July 18, 1997 (1997-07-18) (aged 69), near Alice Springs , Australia
- Alma mater
- California Institute of Technology , Princeton University
- Known for
- Planetary science , Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9
- Spouse
- Carolyn Spellmann (m. 1951)
- Awards
- G. K. Gilbert Award (1983) , Barringer Medal (1984) , National Medal of Science (1992) , William Bowie Medal (1996) , James Craig Watson Medal (1998)
- Fields
- Planetary geology
- Institutions
- U.S. Geological Survey, California Institute of Technology
- Thesis
- Impact mechanics at Meteor Crater, Arizona. (1960)
- Doctoral advisor
- Harry Hammond Hess
- Doctoral students
- Larry Soderblom
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Los Angeles
- Place of death
- Alice Springs
- Spouse
- Carolyn S. Shoemaker
- Occupation
- geologist
- Educated at
- Princeton University
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Doctoral student
- Schelte J. Bus
- Field of work
- planetary geology
- Image
- Eugene Shoemaker.jpg
- Work location
- Tübingen
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Eugene Merle Shoemaker
- cause of death
- traffic collision
- date of birth
- 1928-04-28
- date of death
- 1997-07-18
- manner of death
- accidental death
- member of
- National Academy of Sciences
- Commons gallery
- Eugene Merle Shoemaker
- name in native language
- Eugene Merle Shoemaker
Sources (6)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Eugene Merle Shoemaker (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997) was an American geologist. He co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy. This comet hit Jupiter in July 1994: the impact was televised around the world. Shoemaker also studied terrestrial craters, such as Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona, and along with Edward Chao provided the first conclusive evidence of its origin as an impact crater. He was also the first director of the United States Geological Survey's Astrogeology Research Program.
He was killed in a car accident while visiting an impact crater site in Australia. After his death, some of his ashes were carried to the Moon with the Lunar Prospector mission.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Eugene Merle Shoemaker” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.