[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 106 (Thursday, July 24, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1508-E1509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN REMEMBRANCE OF DR. EUGENE SHOEMAKER AND DR. JURGEN RAHE
______
HON. GEORGE E. BROWN, JR.
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 24, 1997
Mr. BROWN of California. Mr. Speaker, we have all been enthralled by
the exciting images we have been receiving from the Mars Pathfinder
since its successful landing on the 4th of July. I think that we all
would join in congratulating the team of scientists, engineers, and
managers who made this amazing mission a reality.
Yet as we celebrate another success in the ongoing exploration of
space, I believe that we also need to pause to honor the memory of two
individuals who are no longer with us, but who have done much to help
us better understand our solar system: Dr. Eugene Shoemaker and Dr.
Jurgen Rahe. We had just begun to come to terms with the tragic loss
last December of Dr. Carl Sagan, the distinguished astronomer and
advocate for scientific reason, and now we have lost two more gifted
space scientists. We mourn their deaths, but we also celebrate their
accomplishments.
Dr. Shoemaker was a distinguished geologist and discoverer or co-
discoverer of some 820 asteroids and comets. Perhaps his most famous
discovery was that of the Shoemaker-Levy Comet, which was discovered by
him, his wife Carolyn, and Mr. David Levy. I was that comet's
spectacular collision with the planet Jupiter that stirred public
interest in the possibility of comets or asteroids someday impacting
the Earth with disastrous consequences.
However, Dr. Shoemaker had long been concerned with the potential for
such impacts from his earliest days as a scientist when he was able to
demonstrate that Arizona's meteor crater was likely the result of an
impact by an asteroid. Throughout his career, he did much to increase
public and scientific awareness of the potential threat posed by Earth
orbit-crossing asteroids and comets, and he was a tireless champion of
the need to detect and catalog those objects. I had come to rely on his
insights and vision as Congress has attempted to come to grips with the
public policy implications of a phenomenon that has a low probability
of occurrence but that carries severe consequences for life on Earth. I
shall miss him.
Dr. Rahe was also a distinguished scientist and a leading figure in
NASA's solar system exploration program. I think that his impact on
NASA's activities was well stated by Dr. Wesley Huntress, NASA's
Associate Administrator for Space Science, when he said that under Dr.
Rahe's leadership, ``NASA's planetary exploration program was
experiencing an almost unparalleled period of major discoveries at the
same time that a number of new missions were being started and
launched. His legacy to the exploration of space is large, and I like
to think that Jurgen's ideas, hopes, and dreams are aboard many of the
spacecraft now headed to the frontiers of our Solar System.''
Both of these men were outstanding individuals in their profession.
However, each also was a man with a strong sense of integrity and a
love of life and of learning. Dr. Shoemaker and Dr. Rahe made the world
a better place, and I know that all Members join me in expressing our
deep sympathy to their families.
I include herewith obituaries of these two great scientists.
Eugene Shoemaker Dies; Discovered Giant Comet
Phoenix.--Eugene Shoemaker, 69, the geologist-astronomer
who warned about the dangers of asteroids hitting Earth and
who helped discover the giant Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that
slammed into Jupiter in 1994, died July 18 of injuries
suffered in a car crash in outback Australia. He lived in
Flagstaff, Ariz.
His wife, fellow Lowell Observatory astronomer Carolyn
Shoemaker, suffered hip and chest injuries in the crash but
was in stable condition at a hospital, authorities said. The
car they were riding in collided head-on with another car on
a dirt road about 310 miles north of Alice Springs,
authorities said.
Dr. Shoemaker and his wife had discovered about 20 comets
and 800 asteroids, but they were best known for the discovery
with amateur astronomer David Levy of the comet Shoemaker-
Levy 9, which broke up and smashed into Jupiter's gaseous
atmosphere in 1994. The team had been searching the sky for
new comets.
It was Dr. Shoemaker's fascination with asteroid impacts--
such as the one that caused a Meteor Crater near his home--
that drove most of his work.
A geologist by training, he was a leading expert on craters
and the interplanetary collisions that caused them. He first
proved to the scientific community that Meteor Crater was
indeed the result of an asteroid impact, said University of
Arizona planetary scientist Larry Lebofsky.
He also was the author of an influential paper in the early
1960s comparing Meteor Crater with a large crater on the
moon.
Dr. Shoemaker, a Los Angeles native, was a 1947 graduate of
the California Institute of Technology. He received a
doctorate in geology from Princeton University. He worked for
the U.S. Geological Survey from 1948 until retiring in 1993.
[[Page E1509]]
He founded the U.S. Geological Survey's Center of
Astrogeology in Flagstaff in 1961 and served as the center's
chief scientist. He also was involved in several U.S. space
missions, including the Apollo moon missions. He lectured the
Apollo astronauts on such topics as craters.
Dr. Shoemaker, who had wanted to be an astronaut but was
rejected because of a medical problem, said in a 1996
interview that he hoped for more manned space missions soon--
to nearby asteroids, if not to the planet Mars.
``I don't think I will live long enough to see us get to
Mars,'' Dr. Shoemaker said.
In addition to his wife, 67, Dr. Shoemaker's survivors
include two daughters, Linda Salazar and Christine Woodward
of Los Angeles; and a son, Patrick, of Iowa.
____
NASA Mourns Dr. Jurgen H. Rahe, Solar System Exploration Science
Program Director
Dr. Jurgen H. Rahe, 57, Science Program Director for
Exploration of the Solar System at NASA Headquarters,
Washington, DC, died tragically June 18 in the Washington,
DC, area. Dr. Rahe was killed during a severe storm when a
large tree fell on his car as he was driving near his home in
Potomac, MD.
Dr. Rahe had a distinguished career in NASA and in the
field of astronomy and space exploration. In his most recent
position, he was responsible for overall general management,
budget, and strategic planning for NASA's Solar System
Exploration programs, including the Galileo mission to
Jupiter and several upcoming missions to Mars, including the
July 4, 1997, landing of Mars Pathfinder.
``I am shocked and deeply saddened by the loss of Jurgen
Rahe. He was a good friend and an extremely dedicated
scientist,'' said Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., Associate
Administrator for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington,
DC. ``Under his leadership NASA's planetary exploration
program was experiencing an almost unparalleled period of
major discoveries at the same time that a number of new
missions were being started and launched. His legacy to the
exploration of space is large, and I like to think that
Jurgen's ideas, hopes, and dreams are aboard many of the
spacecraft now headed to the frontiers of our Solar System.''
As a member of the Office of Space Science Board of
Directors, Rahe also was responsible for the upcoming
Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. NASA's low-cost Discovery
missions and several upcoming missions to Mars. Dr. Rahe also
was the editor of one scientific journal (``Astrophysics and
Space Science'') and a member of the editorial board of two
others (``Earth, Moon, and Planets'' and ``II Nuovo
Cimento'').
Dr. Rahe previously served as a Discipline Scientist, Chief
Scientist for Planetary Astronomy, and Director of the Solar
System Exploration Division at NASA Headquarters. Before
joining Headquarters full-time in 1989, Dr. Rahe was a Staff
Member at the California Institute of Technology/Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. He has also served as
the Co-Leader of the International Halley Watch; Co-
Investigator on the European space Agency's Giotto mission;
Program Scientist for the Clementine, Rosetta, and NEAR (Near
Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) missions; and as the Associate
Program Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope.
Previously, he was a Professor of Astronomy and Director at
the Astronomical Institute of the University Erlangen-
Nuremberg (Germany). During his tenured professorship, Dr.
Rahe worked for extended periods as a Visiting Professor in
several different countries. He has published many papers in
scientific journals and books, edited more than a dozen books
and conference proceedings, and served as President and/or
member of three International Astronautical Union committees.
He also served previously as the Director of the Remeis
Observatory in Bamberg, Germany.
Rahe is survived by his wife and daughter, who live in
Potomac, MD.
____________________