Stamatios (Tom) Mike Krimizis (; born September 10, 1938) is a Greek-American scientist in

space exploration Space exploration is the process of utilizing astronomy and space technology to investigate outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration is conducted bo ...

. He has contributed to many of the United States' unmanned space exploration programs 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 beyond. He has contributed to exploration missions to almost every planet of the Solar System.Brief Curriculum Vitae and publications
Johns Hopkins University.Europlanet Interview: Stamatios (Tom) Krimigis
Europlanet. In 1999, the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

named the asteroid 8323 Krimigis (previously 1979 UH) in his honor.

Biography

Stamatios Krimigis was born September 10, 1938 in

Vrontados Vrontados () is a small coastal town located at the eastern part of the island of Chios in Greece. With a population of about 5,300 the town hosts the seat of the municipal unit of Omiroupoli. Information The town has a strong tradition in merc ...

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, where he completed his early education. He then moved to the United States to further his studies. Krimigis earned a Bachelor of Physics from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1961. He continued his education at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, where he received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in 1963 and a Ph.D. in 1965 in Physics under the mentorship of renowned space scientist

James Van Allen James Alfred Van Allen (September 7, 1914August 9, 2006) was an American space physicist at the University of Iowa. He was instrumental in establishing the field of magnetospheric research in space. The Van Allen radiation belts were named af ...

. He is Head

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of the Space Department at the

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

Applied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (or simply Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University ...

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River, in northern Prince George's County. Its population was 30,060 at the 2020 census. Founded as a mill town i ...

. He holds the Chair of Science of Space at the Academy of Athens,

, and serves as the President of the Greek National Council for Research and Technology. Krimigis is the only scientist in the world to lead or participate in space physics experiments on all nine classical planets. He has served as a principal investigator on five

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 ...

missions, including the

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium, interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days afte ...

and

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, as a part of the Voyager program. It was launched on a trajectory towards the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and enabled further encounters with the ice giants (Uranus and ...

, the Cassini Saturn Orbiter, and as a co-investigator on many others. Stamatios Krimigis

Krimigis has designed, built, flown and analyzed data from 21 instruments in various NASA and

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

missions. His Low Energy Charged Particle Experiment (LECP) instrument flies aboard both Voyager spacecraft; on Voyager 1, LECP data was essential to determining that a spacecraft had left the solar system for the first time in 2012. Krimigis was also instrumental in establishing NASA's

Discovery Program The Discovery Program is a series of Solar System exploration missions funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through its Planetary Missions Program Office. The cost of each mission is capped at a lower level t ...

of low-cost planetary missions, as well as the New Frontiers program, for which the APL-built New Horizons to Pluto was the first mission. He is also a co-investigator on the

Parker Solar Probe The Parker Solar Probe (PSP; previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+) is a NASA space probe launched in 2018 to make observations of the Stellar corona, Sun's outer corona. It used repeated Gravity assist, gravity assists from ...

, launched in 2018. He is co-investigator for LAN/HI-SCALE on Ulysses solar polar orbiter, EPIC on GEOTAIL, EDP for

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

mission, TRD on

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' ...

3, and for the LECR on

Mariner 4 Mariner 4 (Mariner C-3, together with Mariner 3 known as Mariner-Mars 1964) was the Mariner program, fourth in a series of spacecraft intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode. It was designed to conduct closeup scientific observations ...

. Krimigis has also worked on the Advanced Composition Explorer, the

Mariner 5 Mariner 5 (Mariner V or Mariner Venus 1967) was a spacecraft of the Mariner program that carried a complement of experiments to probe Venus' atmosphere by radio occultation, measure the hydrogen Lyman-alpha (hard ultraviolet) spectrum, and sam ...

MESSENGER Messenger, Messengers, The Messenger or The Messengers may refer to: People * Courier, a person or company that delivers messages, packages, or mail * Messenger (surname) * Bicycle messenger, a bicyclist who transports packages through cities * M ...

and

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institut ...

programs. In 1986, Krimigis briefed President Reagan on the AMPTE mission. He also met with President Gorbachev in 1987 and President Bush in 1990 to discuss

. In 2016, Krimigis received NASA's highest service honor, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, for his lifelong efforts to advance space exploration and science. In 2017, Krimigis's contributions to the Voyager program were highlighted in the documentary film " The Farthest."

Research contributions

Krimigis's research has focused on the study of the magnetospheres of planets and the heliosphere. His pioneering work on space instruments has contributed significantly to our understanding of space weather and the interactions between solar wind and planetary environments. His work with the Voyager spacecraft has provided invaluable data on the outer planets and the boundary of the solar system. Krimigis's publication record spans from "Interplanetary diffusion model for time behavior of intensity in a solar cosmic ray event," published in the

Journal of Geophysical Research The ''Journal of Geophysical Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It is the flagship journal of the American Geophysical Union. It contains original research on the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the u ...

in 1965, to "Search for the exit: Voyager 1 at heliosphere's border with the galaxy," published in

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

in 2013. As a researcher, Krimigis has published nearly 600 articles in scientific journals and books, including ground-breaking findings on solar observations, planetary magnetospheres, and the charged particles that flood the space between the planets. Krimigis has over 21,000 citations, making him one of the most cited scientists in his field.

Honors and awards

* Fellow, APS, AGU, AAAS,

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

* Lifetime Achievement Award,

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (or simply Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University ...

(2004) * Member of the Academy of Athens, Chair of Science of Space (2004) *

COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Science, International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU) and its first chair was Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl. Among COSPAR's objec ...

Space Science Award (2002) *

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Trophy (2002) *

Aviation Week and Space Technology ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network, a division of Informa. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aero ...

''Laurels in Space'' Award (1996, 2001) * NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1981, 1986) * Basic Sciences Award,

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is a Paris-based non-government association for the field of astronautics. It was founded in Stockholm, Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán. It was recognised by the United Nation ...

(1994) * Council of European Aerospace Societies Gold Medal (2011) *

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

Lifetime Achievement Trophy Award (2015) * Hellenic Physical Society Award, for major contributions to science in Greece and abroad (May 11, 2015) * American Astronomical Society Space Flight Award (2015) * NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (2016) * International Academy of Astronautics von Karman Award (2017) * Homeric Award from the Chian Federation of America (2005) * Over 40 NASA and ESA Group Achievement Awards

References

External links

Dr Krimigis at I.A.U.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krimigis, Stamatios 1938 births Living people People from Chios Planetary scientists 20th-century Greek astronomers University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni Voyager program Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Johns Hopkins University faculty Space scientists University of Iowa alumni NASA people Fellows of the American Physical Society 20th-century American people of Greek descent