Postcards From Other Planets: Perspectives on Home Planet Earth
Natural History Museum Vienna
Saal 50 (main staircase, 2nd floor)
(wine & cheese reception afterwards)
To RSVP and for any questions, please contact:
Dr.
Renée Gadsden ’85, President of the Brown Club of Austria at gadsden@aon.at or at 0699/1153
0207
Die Erde ist ein dynamischer, lebender, in ständiger Entwicklung befindlicher Planet. Die einzige
Konstante ist Veränderung. Kontinente, Gebirge entstehen und verschwinden, Inseln tauchen auf und versinken.
Die Geschichte unseres Planeten Erde ist von diesen Ereignissen so gezeichnet, dass wir kaum Hinweise auf die erste
Hälfte der Erdgeschichte haben.
Nach 50 Jahren der Erforschung unseres Sonnensystems können durch die Beobachtung
des Mondes oder anderer Planeten Rückschlüsse auf die Urgeschichte der Erde gezogen werden, ebenso wie durch die Erforschung
ferner und unzugänglicher Teile der Erde (Vulkane, Antarktis).
Die gesammelten Erkenntinsse dieser Forschung
in" Postcards From Other Planets " erlauben uns einen faszinierenden und tiefgehenden Einblick in die Entwicklung, die Geschichte
und die Zukunft unseres Planeten Erde.
This invitation is for 2 people, please show it at the door/
Diese Einladung gilt für 2 Personen
(Visitor’s entrance/Besuchereingang:
Maria-Theresien-Platz)
Short Biography
James W. Head III | The
Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University
James W. Head III is the Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University.
He earned an undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee University (BS, 1964) and received his PhD from Brown University
in 1969.
From 1968 to 1972, while serving at NASA Headquarters, he participated in the selection of landing sites
for the Apollo program, in training Astronaut crews in geology and surface exploration, in planning and evaluating the package
of experiments to be deployed on the Moon, in mission operations in Houston during lunar surface exploration, and in preliminary
analysis of the lunar samples returned by the Astronauts. For these activities he received the NASA Medal for Exceptional
Scientific Achievement and the Geological Society of America Special Commendation. He has continued to be involved in training
of each new class of NASA Astronauts, most recently this year with the 21st Class. He has been elected to Fellowship in the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union,
the Geological Society of America, and the Meteoritical Society.
His research centers on the study of processes
that form and modify the surfaces of planets, how these processes vary with time and produce the preserved historical record
on the planets. He has followed up his research on volcanism, tectonism and glaciation with field studies on active volcanoes
in Hawaii and at Mt. St. Helens, on volcanic deposits on the seafloor with three deep-sea submersible dives, and during five
field seasons in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. He has been an investigator on NASA and Russian Space Missions, including Soviet
Venera 15/16 and Phobos, Russian Mars 1996, Luna and PSRM, and the US Magellan (Venus), Galileo (Jupiter), Mars Global Surveyor,
Moon Mineralogy Mapper on Chandrayaan-1, GRAIL Lunar Mission, and Space Shuttle missions. He is presently participating in
the US MESSENGER mission to Mercury, the LOLA altimeter on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the High-Resolution Stereo Camera
on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission. He has published over 600 papers in professional journals. He has received
several NASA Public Service Medals, the Geological Society of America’s G. K. Gilbert award for outstanding contributions
to the solution of fundamental problems in planetary geology and the European Geosciences Union’s Runcorn-Florensky Medal
for exceptional contributions to planetology.
Professor Head has a keen interest in international scientific activities,
having chaired the International Union of Geological Sciences Commission on Comparative Planetology and served as a delegate
on the US/USSR Joint Working Group on Solar System Exploration, the NASA delegation to the Interagency Consultative Group,
and on the NASA Advisory Council Task Force on International Relations. His teaching ranges from an introductory-level course
in planetology (enrollment from 100-250 yearly) through graduate education (principal advisor to over 50 Master’s Degree recipients
and over 30 PhD recipients) and he involves his students in many international projects and meetings.
