Graham Ryder (28 January 1949 – 5 January 2002) was an English geologist and lunar scientist. He was educated at the University of Wales, Swansea, receiving his BSc in 1970. He then earned a PhD in geology from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1974. His post-doctoral work was performed at the

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, concentrating on Astrophysics, astrophysical studies including Galactic astronomy, galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, Sun, solar ...

. Ryder worked at the NASA Johnson Space Center in the Lunar Curatorial Facility for Northrup Services Inc. From 1978 to 1982 he helped in the assembly of catalogues and guides to the

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

lunar samples. Since 1983 he was a staff scientist at the

Lunar and Planetary Institute The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) is a scientific research institute dedicated to study of the Solar System, its formation, evolution, and current state. The Institute is part of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and is ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas. Much of his work concerned the geology of the lunar surface, including the history of the

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...

Petrology Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks, their mineralogy, composition, texture, structure and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous ...

of lunar rocks including highland rocks and

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

s, and the chronology of lunar bombardment. He was an advocate of the "3.8 Ga Cataclysmic Bombardment" theory concerning a period of sudden mass impacts of the Moon and inner planets. His death was caused by complications from cancer of the

esophagus The esophagus (American English), oesophagus (British English), or œsophagus (Œ, archaic spelling) (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, see spelling difference) all ; : ((o)e)(œ)sophagi or ((o)e)(œ)sophaguses), c ...

. Ryder was posthumously awarded the Barringer Medal at the 2003

Meteoritical Society The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote research and education in planetary science with emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of th ...

meeting for his work in planetary science. The

's Paul Pellas-Graham Ryder Award is named for him and meteoriticist Paul Pellas.

's Graham Ryder Memorial Fund is named in his memory. The Ryder crater on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

has been named in his honour. The crater is located at 44.5°S, 143.2°

east of the crater Pauli (crater), Pauli.

External links

Memorial
by Paul D. Spudis.
The lunar crater Ryder is named after him

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryder, Graham 1949 births 2002 deaths Alumni of Swansea University English atheists 20th-century British geologists British planetary scientists Michigan State University alumni Barringer Medal winners Deaths from esophageal cancer