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Gerald Joseph Wasserburg

Earth Sciences

Gerald Joseph Wasserburg was an American geologist born March 25, 1927, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, who died June 13, 2016, and who held the John D. MacArthur Professorship at the California Institute of Technology, specializing in isotope geochemistry, cosmochemistry, and astrophysics. He developed potassium argon dating methods during his doctoral research, discovered the short lived radioactive isotopes aluminum 26 and palladium 107 in the early Solar System, pioneered precise measurement of ultra small samples under clean room conditions, co-invented the Lunatic Spectrometer, described as the first fully digital mass spectrometer with computer controlled magnetic field scanning, and established lunar chronology while proposing the Late Heavy Bombardment hypothesis. He received the Arthur L. Day Medal in 1970, the Wollaston Medal in 1985, the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences in 1986, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1991, the William Bowie Medal in 2008, and NASA Distinguished Public Service Medals in 1972 and 1978.

Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account
1927 1
Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account
1927-03-25 1
Death DateSourced to the subject's own account
2016-06-13 1
Death YearSourced to the subject's own account
2016 1
FieldSourced to the subject's own account
Isotope geochemistry, cosmochemistry, meteoritics, and astrophysics 1
Death Place
Florence, United States 2
NationalitySourced to the subject's own account
American 1
Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own account
Co-invented the Lunatic Spectrometer and established a chronology for the Moon and early Solar System through the Apollo Program lunar samples 1
BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own account
New Brunswick, New Jersey, US 1
Field
Field (category)Sourced to the subject's own account
Physics 1
Field (category)Sourced to the subject's own account
Astrophysics 1
Field (category)Sourced to the subject's own account
Chemistry 1
Connections

Member Of

Source Gerald J. Wasserburg (Wikipedia)

Works In

Geology, Disciplines
Source Gerald J. Wasserburg (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Gerald J. Wasserburg (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • lead paragraph
    Gerald J. Wasserburg (March 25, 1927 - June 13, 2016) was an American geologist.
  • infobox, birth_place field
    birth_place= New Brunswick, New Jersey, US
  • Apollo Program section
    He and his co-workers were major contributors to establishing a chronology for the Moon and proposed the hypothesis of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) of the whole inner Solar System at near 4.0 Gy ago
  • lead paragraph, research-fields sentence
    He was known for his work in the fields of isotope geochemistry, cosmochemistry, meteoritics, and astrophysics.
  • Works In: Geology, Lead sentence
    Gerald J. Wasserburg (March 25, 1927 - June 13, 2016) was an American geologist.
  • Member Of: National Academy of Sciences, Article text
    He was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, th
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2. Gerald Joseph Wasserburg (Wikidata)
P20 (place of death): Florence, United States
Quote, P20 (place of death): Florence, United States
Q862740
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