Jacob (Richard) Matijevic, also known as "Jake" Matijevic, (3 November 1947 – 20 August 2012) was an American

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

of Croatian origin who worked on

Mars Exploration Rovers NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, '' Spirit'' and '' Opportunity'', exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface ...

. Dr. Matijevic was involved in developing the ''" Sojourner"'', ''"

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

"'', ''"

Opportunity Opportunity may refer to: Places * Opportunity, Montana, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Nebraska, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Washington, a former census-designated place, United States * ...

"'' and ''"

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human ...

"'' rovers. For his contributions to the rover projects,

named several landmarks on the

planet Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosph ...

(including ''"

Matijevic Hill Matijevic Hill, named after American NASA engineer Jacob "Jake" Matijevic (1947 - 2012), is a hill located on " Cape York", itself on the western rim of Endeavour Crater lying within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of the pl ...

"'' and ''" Jake Matijevic"'' rock) after him. Matijevic was born and grew up in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and graduated from Mount Carmel High School. In 1969, he received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has pro ...

, and, in 1973, earned a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

under the supervision of

Irving Kaplansky Irving Kaplansky (March 22, 1917 – June 25, 2006) was a mathematician, college professor, author, and amateur musician.O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Irving Kaplansky", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St And ...

. In 1981, Matijevic began working at the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA ...

(JPL) in Pasadena, California, as a control systems engineer. In 1986, he worked in the

telerobotics Telerobotics is the area of robotics concerned with the control of semi-autonomous robots from a distance, chiefly using television, wireless networks (like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the Deep Space Network) or tethered connections. It is a combinati ...

field and later, in 1992, began work with the

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

'' Sojourner'' rover. This rover was delivered to Mars by the Pathfinder spacecraft in 1996. Afterwards, Matijevic helped develop the ''"

"'' and ''"

"'' rovers that began exploring Mars in 2004. He also helped develop the ''"

"'' rover that landed on Mars in August 2012, just two weeks before his death. After his death, NASA decided to name a Mars hill, ''"

"'', encountered by the ''"Opportunity"'' rover, and also a Mars rock, ''" Jake Matijevic"'', encountered by the ''"Curiosity"'' rover, in his honor for his many contributions to the Mars rover projects over the years. PIA16192-MarsCuriosityRover-Target-JakeRock-20120927

PIA16192-MarsCuriosityRover-Target-JakeRock-20120927

References

External links

Mars Curiosity Rover - Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matijevic, Jacob 1947 births 2012 deaths Mars Science Laboratory Mars Exploration Rover mission NASA people American people of Croatian descent Illinois Institute of Technology alumni University of Chicago alumni

See also

References

External links