Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Space Scientist Honored as AIAA Fellow

Dr. Stamatios M. (Tom) Krimigis, head emeritus of the Space Department at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., has been named a 2007 Fellow by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

He is among 30 individuals bestowed with this distinction by AIAA for "notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology in aeronautics or astronautics." Dr. Krimigis was specifically recognized for his seminal scientific, managerial and technical contributions to space science over four decades, including work on the Voyager, Cassini, MESSENGER and New Horizons missions.

The awards were presented May 15 during the organization's 2007 Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

Past Awards

Dr. Krimigis has received several awards throughout his 38-year APL career. More recently he was named a "fellow" of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in 2005, for his role in the birth of NASA's Discovery Program and for leading many successful APL planetary exploration projects, including Voyager's interstellar explorations and Cassini's mission to Saturn. His science instruments have visited seven of the nine traditional planets — a first — and he is also involved with instruments on the MESSENGER and New Horizons missions on their way to Mercury and Pluto, respectively. In 2005 he was elected a member of the Academy of Athens in Greece, to the chair of "Science of Space."

In 2004 he was the first scientist given the Chian Federation of America's Homeric Award, established nearly 30 years ago to honor distinguished individuals, advocates of human rights and democratic ideals, and those who have furthered human knowledge.

Born in Chios, Greece, Dr. Krimigis earned a bachelor's of physics degree from the University of Minnesota (1961) and a master's (1963) and doctorate (1965) in physics from the University of Iowa. He served on the faculty of the Physics and Astronomy Department at Iowa before joining APL in 1968. He headed the Lab's Space Department from 1991 to 2004, directing the activities of about 600 scientists, engineers and other technical and supporting staff. He is a resident of Silver Spring, Md.

For more information on AIAA's 2007 Fellows, visit www.aiaa.org/pdf/inside/
2007fhf407.pdf .