Charles F. Kennel (born August 20, 1939) is an American plasma

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and former Associate Administrator of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

. He is an elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

and won the

James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics The James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics is an annual American Physical Society (APS) award that is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of the Plasma Physics. It was established in 1975 by Maxwell Technologies, I ...

in 1997. In 2009, he was advertised by

NASA Watch Keith Cowing is an American astrobiologist, former NASA employee, and the editor of the American space program blog ''NASA Watch''. He is a credentialed NASA journalist and is known to be a critic of NASA activities and policies. ''NASA Watch'' ...

as a potential pick by Barack Obama as the next

NASA Administrator The administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official of NASA, the national List of space agencies, space agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible ...

Early life and career

Kennel received a bachelor's degree in astronomy from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

and a doctorate in astrophysical sciences from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. His doctoral thesis was advised by Edward A. Frieman. Charles Kennel was a former Associate Administrator of

. He was the director of Mission to Planet Earth, a program during the Clinton Administration to perform a comprehensive survey and observation of our home planet. He was a member and chair of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Science Committee which he quit in 2006. *Ninth Director of

Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma. Founded in 1903 and incorpo ...

*Vice Chancellor of Marine Sciences at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, San Diego, from 1998 to 2006. *Member and chair of the NASA Advisory Council (1998–2006) *Chair of the National Academy of Science's Space Studies Board *In May 2009, Kennel was named a member of the

Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee The Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee, better known as the HSF Committee, Augustine Commission, or Augustine Committee, was a group convened by NASA at the request of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), to ...

an independent review requested by the

Office of Science and Technology Policy The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a department of the United States government, part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Executive Office of the President (EOP), established by United States Congres ...

(OSTP) on May 7, 2009. *In January 2014, Kennel was elected the inaugural visiting research fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP), University of Cambridge.

Honors and awards

Kennel was awarded the

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1987 and was inducted into the

in 1991. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2003. In 1997, he received the

from the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

Works

* Unstable growth of unducted whistlers propagating at an angle to the geomagnetic field – 1966 – Trieste : International Atomic Energy Agency, International Centre for Theoretical Physics * What we have learned from the magnetosphere – 1974 – Los Angeles, Calif. : Plasma Physics Group, University of California, Los Angeles * Matter in motion : the spirit and evolution of physics – 1977 – Charles F. Kennel and Ernest S. Abers – Boston : Allyn and Bacon * Convection And Substorms: Paradigms Of Magnetospheric Phenomenology – 1996 – Oxford University Press, Usa –
The Climate Threat We Can Beat
in May/June 2012 Foreign Affairs with David G. Victor,

Veerabhadran Ramanathan Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan (born 24 November 1944) holds the title of Professor Emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He was Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustaina ...

, and Kennel (website is paid while article is current)

References

External links

Biography from APS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennel, Charles 1939 births Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard University alumni Princeton University alumni University of California, San Diego faculty American plasma physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Members of the American Philosophical Society