Ronald Greeley (August 25, 1939 – October 27, 2011) was a Regents’ Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

(ASU), the Director of the

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 ...

-ASU Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF), and Principal Investigator of the Planetary Aeolian Laboratory at NASA-

Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

. He was involved with lunar and planetary studies since 1967 and most recently focused his research on understanding planetary surface processes and geologic histories.

Education

Greeley earned his B.S. degree in

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

in 1962 and his M.S. degree in Geology in 1963 from

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

and earned his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Missouri at Rolla in 1966.

Career

After receiving his Ph.D. in Geology in 1966, Greeley worked for

Standard Oil Company of California Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to ...

. Through his military service, he was assigned to NASA's Ames Research Center in 1967 where he worked in a civilian capacity in preparation for the Apollo missions to 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 ...

. He remained at NASA to conduct research in

planetary geology Planetary geology, alternatively known as astrogeology or exogeology, is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of celestial bodies such as planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Although the geo- prefix t ...

. With the results of the planetary missions in the early 1970s, attention shifted to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and research on

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 ...

and

aeolian processes Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets). Winds may erosion, erode, transport, and deposit ...

through the analysis of

Mariner A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor' ...

6, 7, and 9 data. He became a science team member on the Mars

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

mission from 1976 through 1980. In 1977, Greeley joined the faculty at Arizona State University with a joint professorship in Geology and the Center for Meteorite Studies. His latest research focused on the wind processes on

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 ...

, Mars,

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, and

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

, field studies of basaltic volcanism, and photogeological mapping of the planets and satellites including Europa. He was also a science team member on the

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

program and the European Space Agency's

Mars Express ''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission by the European Space Agency, European Space Agency (ESA) exploring the planet Mars and its moons since 2003, and the first planetary mission attempted by ESA. ''Mars Express'' consisted of two ...

mission. Greeley served on various NASA and

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 ...

panels to assess

space science Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

and planetary geology activities. He chaired the NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Management Operations Working Group, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Lunar and Planetary Exploration, and the NASA Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group. He was Co-chair of the NASA Science Definition Team for the Europa flagship mission, then the Planetary Science Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council and served in that capacity until his death in 2011. Over the course of his career, Greeley wrote or co-wrote more than 400 papers and 16 books.

Awards and honors

Greeley received a number of awards and honors during his career, including the G. K. Gilbert Award presented by the Planetary Geology Division of 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. Hi ...

in 1997, and being named a Fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

in 2007 and of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

in 2008. At Arizona State University, he received a Distinguished Faculty Award in 2004 and was the recipient of the Best Field Trip of the Year award at the Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration in 2007. Greeley was also the recipient of numerous NASA individual, group and leadership awards. An asteroid was named 30785 Greeley in his honor in 1988. Greeley Crater, an

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

on Mars, was named in his honor in 2015. A commemorative plate on NASA's

Europa Clipper Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe developed by NASA to study Europa (moon), Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter. It was launched on October 14, 2024. The spacecraft used a gravity assist from Mar ...

mission features a poem by the U.S. Poet Laureate

Ada Limón Ada Limón (born March 28, 1976) is an American poet. On July 12, 2022, she was named the 24th United States Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate of the United States by the Librarian of Congress. This made her the first Latinas, Latina to be Poet Laurea ...

, waveforms of the word 'water' in 103 languages, the

Drake equation The Drake equation is a probability theory, probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy.Physics Today 14 (4), 40–46 (1961). The e ...

, and a portrait of Ron Greeley.

Selected works

*''Geology on the Moon'', (1977) *''Earthlike Planets: Surfaces of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars'', (co-author, 1981) *''Wind as a Geological Process: On Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan'', (1987) *''Planetary Landscapes'', (1994) *''The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System'', (2002) *''21st Century Astronomy'', (co-author, 2006) *''Planetary Mapping'', (editor, 2007) *''Introduction to Planetary Geomorphology'', (2013)

References

External links

Ronald Greeley’s Resume

JPL Small-Body Database Browser on 30785 Greeley

In Memoriam: Ron Greeley, NASA Astrobiology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greeley, Ronald 1939 births 2011 deaths Planetary scientists Mississippi State University alumni Missouri University of Science and Technology alumni Fellows of the American Geophysical Union