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Mindlin Lecture Series Wednesday Evening 8 November 2000 Donald A. Gurnett ABSTRACT On December 7, 1995, after a six-year journey, the Galileo spacecraft was successfully placed in orbit around Jupiter, where it is still operating today. This lecture gives an overview of results from this ambitious mission, which provided the first direct measurements of the atmosphere of Jupiter, the first close flybys of Jupiter’s four large moons, and the first long-term observations of magnetic fields, plasmas and radio emissions in the vicinity of Jupiter. ABOUT D. A. GURNETT
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Since 1965 Professor Gurnett has been at the University of Iowa, where he specializes
in experimental space plasma physics. He has provided instruments on more than
25 major NASA spacecraft projects, most notably the Voyager 1 and 2 flights to
the outer planets, the Galileo mission to Jupiter, and the Cassini mission to
Saturn. His latest project involves the development of a low-frequency radar to
search for sub-surface water at Mars with the Mars Express spacecraft. Prof.
Gurnett has received numerous awards for his research and teaching, including
the 1978 John Howard Dellinger Gold Medal from the International Scientific
Radio Union, the 1989 John Adam Fleming Medal from the American Geophysical
Union, and the 1989 Excellence in Plasma Physics Award from the American
Physical Society. In 1994 he received the Iowa Board of Regents Award for
Faculty Excellence, and in 1998 he was elected a member of the National Academy
of Sciences. He is the author 343 scientific publications.