Astrogeology

Solomon Receives Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award

By Keith Cowing
June 7, 2006

NAI congratulates Dr. Sean C. Solomon, Principal Investigator of Carnegie Institution of Washington’s NASA Astrobiology Institute and Director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of CIW, on his receipt of the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award on May 20.

Since 1966, only 207 awards have been granted in recognition of graduates who have displayed “a particular achievement of noteworthy value, a series of such achievements, or a career of noteworthy accomplishment,” and is the highest honor the Institute bestows upon a graduate, according to Caltech’s Alumni Association. The 2006 keynote speaker was Professor Mike Brown, who delivered his talk entitled “Beyond Pluto: Discovery of the 10th Planet.”

Solomon received a B.S. in Geology (with honors) from California Institute of Technology in 1966. He received his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971, and was a member of the MIT faculty for more than 20 years. Solomon has been Director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism since 1992, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2000. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻