Guy Consolmagno
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Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ (born September 19, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan), is a research astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory.
He obtained his B.A. (1974), M.A. (1975) degrees at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. (1978) at the University of Arizona, all in Planetary Sciences. After postdoctoral research and teaching at Harvard College Observatory and MIT, in 1983 he joined the US Peace Corps to serve in Kenya for two years, teaching astronomy and physics. After his return he took a position as Assistant Professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania [1].
In 1989 he entered the Jesuit order, and took vows as a brother in 1991. On entry into the order, he was assigned as an astronomer to the Vatican Observatory, where he also serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection, positions he has held since then. In addition to his continuing professional work in planetary science, he has also studied philosophy and theology.
His research is centered on the connections between meteorites and asteroids, and the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. In addition to over 40 refereed scientific papers, he has co-authored several books on astronomy for the popular market, which have been translated into multiple languages. During 1996, he took part in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites, ANSMET, where he discovered a number of meteorites on the ice fields of Antarctica.
He believes creationism to be "a kind of paganism" and in the need for science and religion to work alongside one another rather than as competing ideologies [2].
Guy Consolmagno is currently (2006) the Vice-Chair of the Division of Planetary Science of the American Astronomical Society [3], and will progress to the Chair's position in the following year.
[edit] Bibliography
- Worlds Apart (with Martha W. Schaefer, Prentice Hall, 1993)
- Turn Left at Orion (with Dan M. Davis, Cambridge University Press, 1995)
- The Way to the Dwelling of Light (University of Notre Dame Press, 1998)
- Brother Astronomer, Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (McGraw Hill, 2000) Review
- Intelligent Life in the Universe? Catholic belief and the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (Catholic Truth Society, 2005)
[edit] References
- ^ Curriculum Vitae on homepage
- ^ Scotsman article at news.scotsman.com
- ^ Current Division of Plantary Science Officers at aas.org
[edit] External links
- Vatican Observatory website
- Interview with Guy Consolmagno at Astrobiology Magazine (2004).
