Roger Jay Phillips (June 9, 1940 – November 19, 2020) was an American geophysicist,

planetary scientist Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

, and professor emeritus at the

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. His research interests included the geophysical structure of planets, and the use of

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

and gravity to investigate the surfaces and interiors of the planets.

Career

Roger J. Phillips received his Ph.D. in 1968 from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

where he studied with Stan Ward. Following graduate school he worked 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 an ...

. His work at JPL included being the team leader for the

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...

Lunar Sounder Experiment (ALSE). Phillips then served as the Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute before moving to

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

, and later to

where he served as a Professor and as Director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at the university. Phillips worked on several spacecraft missions such as Magellan, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and

MESSENGER ''MESSENGER'' was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. The name is a backronym for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geoche ...

. Roger Phillips served as the editor of '' Geophysical Research Letters'' and co-edited the books the ''Origin of the Moon'' and ''Venus II''. Roger Phillips was a fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's act ...

, received the

G. K. Gilbert Award The G. K. Gilbert Award is presented annually by the Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America for outstanding contributions to the solution of fundamental problems in planetary geology in the broadest sense, which includes ge ...

from the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

in 2003 and the

Whipple Award The Fred Whipple Award, established in 1989 by the Planetary Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union, is presented to an individual who makes an outstanding contribution to the field of planetary science. The award was established to ...

from the

in 2008

Scientific contributions

Roger Phillips' early work determined that the mascons on the Moon that perturbed the trajectory of early lunar orbiters was the result of near surface structure of impact basins and made some of the early estimates of the thickness of the crust of Mars prior to the Viking orbiters. Using the Apollo 17 Lunar Sounder Experiment data Phillips and his team collected they made the first observations of near surface variations in rock layers on the Moon. Roger Phillips is well-known for his contributions to understanding the tectonics, impact craters and resurfacing history and the interior and crustal evolution of Venus. Phillips is also known for explaining how the growth of the massive

Tharsis Tharsis () is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Asc ...

volcanic province on Mars shaped the entire planet and influenced the pattern of precipitation runoff on early Mars and demonstrating how the

lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...

of Mars under the north pole of the planet is not deflected by the massive polar caps. He also demonstrated that there are CO₂ ice deposits within the southern polar cap of Mars.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Roger J. Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Planetary scientists American geophysicists University of California, Berkeley alumni Colorado School of Mines alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty 1940 births 2020 deaths Academic journal editors Scientists from Missouri Lunar and Planetary Institute