The Harold Masursky Award for Meritorious Service to Planetary Science, usually called the Masursky Award, is awarded annually by the
Division for Planetary Sciences The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) is a division within the American Astronomical Society (AAS) devoted to Solar System research.
It was founded in 1968. The first organizing committee members were: Edward Anders, Lewis Branscomb, Josep ...
(DPS) of the
American Astronomical Society
The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...
. The award for Meritorious Service to Planetary Science was established by the DPS to recognize and honor individuals who have rendered outstanding service to planetary science and exploration through engineering, managerial, programmatic, or public service activities.
[ ] For purposes of this award, planetary science and exploration refers to the multidisciplinary study of the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
and its members, excluding work dealing primarily with the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
or the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
. It was named in honor of
Harold Masursky. The award has been given annually since 1991, except 2001, 2002, and 2009.
Recipients
Source
American Astronomical Society
See also
*
List of astronomy awards
References
External links
AAS website about the awards* {{usurped,
The Harold Masursky Award for Meritorious Service to Planetary Science}
Masursky Award
American awards
Awards established in 1991
1991 establishments in the United States
American Astronomical Society