Carolyn S. Shoemaker

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Carolyn S. Shoemaker
Carolyn Shoemaker (cropped).jpg
Born
Carolyn Jean Spellmann

(1929-06-24)June 24, 1929[1]
Gallup, New Mexico, U.S.
DiedAugust 13, 2021(2021-08-13) (aged 92)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCalifornia State University, Chico
Known forco-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9
Spouse(s)
Eugene Shoemaker
​
​
(m. 1951; died 1997)​
AwardsJames Craig Watson Medal (1998)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal
Rittenhouse Medal (1988)
Scientist of the Year Award (1995)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsCalifornia Institute of Technology
Palomar Observatory, California

Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker (June 24, 1929 – August 13, 2021) was an American astronomer and a co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.[2] She discovered 32 comets (then a record for the most by an individual)[3] and more than 500 asteroids.[4]

Having earned degrees in history, political science and English literature, she had little interest in science until she met and married geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Despite her relative inexperience and lack of a science degree, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) had no objection to her joining Gene's team there as a research assistant. She had demonstrated good stereoscopic vision, a particularly valuable quality for looking for objects in near-Earth space.[3]

Personal life[]

Shoemaker was born in Gallup, New Mexico, United States,[3] to Leonard and Hazel Arthur Spellmann. Her family moved to Chico, California, where she and her brother Richard grew up. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history, political science and English literature from Chico State University.[5]

When Richard attended Caltech, his roommate at Caltech was a young graduate student named Gene Shoemaker; however, Carolyn did not meet him until the summer of 1950, when they attended Richard's wedding.[3] Gene had moved to New Jersey to begin work toward a doctoral degree at Princeton University, but flew back to California to serve as Richard's best man. When he returned to his studies at Princeton, he and Carolyn maintained a "pen pal" relationship, followed by a two-week camping trip on the Tennessee Plateau. They were married on August 18, 1951.[3][6] They had three children: Christy, Linda, and Patrick (Pat).[3]

The family lived in Grand Junction, Colorado; Menlo Park, California; and Pasadena, California, before settling down in Flagstaff, Arizona, where Gene and Carolyn worked together at the Lowell Observatory.[6]

Shoemaker died on August 13, 2021, at age 92.[7]

Careers[]

Palomar Observatory near San Diego, California, where Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker recorded many of their astronomical discoveries

The first job Shoemaker held after marrying Gene was teaching the seventh grade.[4] Feeling unsatisfied with the teaching profession, she quit to raise a family.[4] Mary Chapman, author of Shoemaker's biography for the USGS Astrogeology Center, wrote "Carolyn is a warm, caring, and extremely patient woman, but her skills were better suited for a non-teaching environment."[3]

At the age of 51, after her children had grown up and moved out, Shoemaker started looking for work that would combat her "empty nest syndrome."[4] In her youth, she had never been interested in scientific topics.[3] She had taken one course in geology, but found it extremely boring.[3] She reportedly told others that, "listening to Gene explaining geology made what she had thought was a boring subject into an exciting and interesting pursuit of knowledge."[3]

Clark Dome at Lowell Observatory
Shoemaker in 1986

A student at Lowell Observatory began teaching her astronomy.[5] Then she began work as a field assistant for her husband, working on his search program mapping and analyzing impact craters.[5] Carolyn Shoemaker started her astronomical career in 1980, at age 51, searching for Earth-crossing asteroids and comets at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, and the Palomar Observatory, San Diego, California.[8] That year, Shoemaker was hired at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as a visiting scientist in the astronomy branch, and then in 1989 began work as an astronomy research professor at Northern Arizona University.[5] She concentrated her work on searching for comets and planet-crossing asteroids.[6] Teamed with astronomer David H. Levy, the Shoemakers identified Shoemaker-Levy 9, a fragmented comet with an orbit that intersected Jupiter's, on March 24, 1993.[9][10]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Shoemaker used film taken at the wide-field telescope at the Palomar Observatory, combined with a stereoscope, to find objects which moved against the background of fixed stars.[3]

In 1997, Gene and Carolyn were involved in a car crash in Australia. Gene was killed instantly, while Carolyn sustained severe injuries. Carolyn eventually recovered and continued to work at the Lowell Observatory with Levy.[11] She was actively involved in astronomical observation work until at least 2002.[3] As of 2002, Shoemaker had been credited with discovering or co-discovering 32 comets and over 500 asteroids.[4]

Awards and honors[]

Shoemaker received an honorary doctorate from the Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1996.[3] She and her husband were awarded the James Craig Watson Medal by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1998.[12] Shoemaker also received the Rittenhouse Medal of the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society[9] in 1988 and the Scientist of the Year Award in 1995. The Hildian asteroid 4446 Carolyn, discovered by colleague Edward Bowell at Lowell Observatory in 1985, was named in her honor.[13]

List of discovered minor planets[]

See also: Category:Discoveries by Carolyn S. Shoemaker

Shoemaker was credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 377 numbered minor planets between 1980 and 1994.[14][needs update]

References[]

  1. ^ Stange, Mary Zeiss; Oyster, Carol K.; Sloan, Jane E. (February 23, 2011). Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World. SAGE Publications. p. 1344. ISBN 9781412976855. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  2. ^ Mestel, Rosie (July 9, 1994). "Carolyn Shoemaker and 'Her Comet'". New Scientist. 143 (1933). p. 23.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Chapman, Mary G. (May 17, 2002). "Carolyn Shoemaker". Astrogeology Science Center. USGS. Archived from the original on November 11, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Carolyn Shoemaker has discovered 32 comets and more than 500 asteroids". Arizona Central. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Wayne, Tiffany K. (2011). "Carolyn Shoemaker". Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World, Vol. 4. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Gene Shoemaker | American astrogeologist". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  7. ^ "In Memoriam: Carolyn Shoemaker, 1929–2021". Planetary News. August 17, 2021.
  8. ^ "She's Looking Out for Us". Explorer. American Association of Petroleum Geologists. May 2001.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Lang, Susan S. (April 11, 2002). "Comet hunter Carolyn Shoemaker to speak at Cornell April 21". Cornell Chronicle.
  10. ^ Levy, David H. (July 16, 2014). "Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: 20 years later". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  11. ^ Shoemaker, Carolyn (November 27, 1998). "Space—Where Now, and Why?". Science. 282 (5394): 1637–1638. Bibcode:1998Sci...282.1637S. doi:10.1126/science.282.5394.1637. S2CID 130632437.
  12. ^ "James Craig Watson Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on June 29, 2010. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  13. ^ "4446 Carolyn (1985 TT)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  14. ^ "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. September 4, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.

External links[]

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