[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 112 (Friday, August 1, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN MEMORY OF GENE SHOEMAKER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DANA ROHRABACHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 31, 1997

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, the scientific community lost one of 
its brightest stars this month when astronomer Gene Shoemaker was 
killed in an auto accident. His wife Carolyn was also injured and 
hospitalized. We should all say a prayer for her speedy recovery.
  Dr. Shoemaker dedicated his life to advancing the frontiers of human 
knowledge and experience. He was slated to be one of the first 
scientists to visit the moon during the Apollo program until a minor 
physical impairment cost Gene his flight status. But that didn't stop 
his commitment to science or his passion for understanding our 
universe. Dr. Shoemaker pressed onward and upwards as a leader of the 
Lunar Ranger and Surveyor Programs over three decades ago. When the 
Apollo program came to an end, Gene focused on asteroids and meteors.
  But Gene didn't give up his passion for Earth's natural satellite. 
Over two decades after leading America's first lunar science missions, 
he joined the science team for the Clementine mission, which discovered 
evidence of ice on the Moon, making global headlines. Gene's years of 
studying asteroids and meteors convinced him that the evolution of the 
planets in our solar system has been changed by large asteroid and 
meteor impacts. Like many of the science community's best minds, Gene 
initially had to struggle against scientific orthodoxy for his theories 
to be considered. He persisted and his passion for the truth, for 
science, and for discovery won out. In 1994, we witnessed the most 
dramatic proof validating Gene's work. That year, the Shoemaker-Levy 
comet, which Gene, Carolyn, and their colleague David Levy discovered, 
crashed into Jupiter in the astronomical equivalent of the Fourth of 
July. Who could not be impressed or awed with reality's demonstration 
of Gene's vision? No matter what he was working on, Dr. Shoemaker 
always managed to make some of the most exciting discoveries in space 
science while exciting young minds about the possibilities for the 
future. I have little doubt that Gene and Carolyn shared the excitement 
of countless millions following the progress of the Pathfinder mission 
and its little rover Sojourner across the Martian soil.
  As successful and important as Dr. Shoemaker's professional life was, 
his personal life stands as a monument to the better angels of our 
nature. With a twinkle in his eye, a gentleness in his voice, and 
calmness in his expressions, Gene Shoemaker proved every day that nice 
guys finish first. As a scientist, an outdoorsman, an individualist, 
and a teacher, Dr. Shoemaker's life made the world a better place. We 
will, of course, miss him and cannot help feeling the loss that his 
passing brings. Still, after reflecting on his professional 
accomplishments and the manner in which Gene lived his life, we cannot 
help but catch the infectious job with which he pursued new 
discoveries. That spirit lives on in the lives of those who crossed his 
path. It will carry us into a future that begins to realize the 
possibilities of Gene's vision.

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