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460:. For many years, he pursued the idea for using a radar altimeter to map Venus and contributed key technical ideas. The results, in part, were detailed reflectivity and topographic maps of virtually the entire planet of Venus, providing geologists and geophysicists with lifetimes of work to understand the development of Venus' crust and the history of its interior. Many planetary scientists feel he was one of the individuals most responsible for our present knowledge of
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I, the first such observation of a satellite. His earliest research extending beyond the Earth's orbit was with this same radar in 1961; he used it to make the first ranging measurements to another planet, Venus. These first observations yielded a value for the astronomical unit in terrestrial units
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In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pettengill led ground-based radar studies of the surface properties of all of the inner planets, including the Earth's (via a "triple-bounce" experiment: Moon-Earth-Moon). Pettengill also played a leading role in the first radar studies of an asteroid (Icarus, in
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304:(February 10, 1926 – May 8, 2021) was an American radio astronomer and planetary physicist. He was one of the first to take radar from its original military application to its use as a tool for
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which has an accuracy 3 orders of magnitude greater than had been possible with the armamentarium of classical positional astronomy. Such knowledge was critical for the navigation of
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1968), a comet (Encke, in 1980), and moons of other planets (the
Galilean satellites, starting in 1976). In all of this work, Pettengill made use of radar systems at
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Gordon H. Pettengill personal archives, MC 609, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Institute Archives and Special Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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company stationed in
Austria. After World War II ended, he returned to MIT where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1948. This was followed by work at
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G.H. Pettengill and D.E. Dustin, "A Comparison of
Selected ICBM Early-Warning Radar Configurations," MIT Lincoln Laboratory Technical Report 127, 1956.
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His observations embraced
Mercury, Venus, Mars, several asteroids and comets, the Galilean satellites of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn.
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where he developed a fascination with radio and electronics. He often took apart and rebuilt old radios. Pettengill was interested in
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Pettengill successfully completed a two-dimensional radar mapping of the Moon in 1960, a key step in the U.S. preparations for the
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He was appointed
Professor of Planetary Physics in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at MIT in 1970.
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From 1963 to 1965, Pettengill served as associate director and from 1968 to 1970 as
Director of the
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and found that
Mercury's day was 59 Earth days, not 88 as had been previously thought.
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Measurements on Proton-Proton
Scattering in the Energy Region 150 to 340 MEV
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For over two decades, beginning in 1977, he concentrated most heavily on
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President, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Office of the (1971).
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Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 3:377-411 (September 1965)
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in 1954. By the late 1950s, he was part of a group using the then-new
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
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American radio astronomer and planetary physicist (1926–2021)
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Venus Surface Radiothermal Emission as Observed by Magellan
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Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
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351:where he served in the infantry and then with a
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347:. When he turned 18, he was drafted into the
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821:United States Army personnel of World War II
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786:University of California, Berkeley alumni
646:"MESSENMESSENGER: Astronomer Biographies"
339:Pettengill began studying physics at the
142:Learn how and when to remove this message
80:Learn how and when to remove this message
766:Scientists from Providence, Rhode Island
726:Venus: Global Surface Radar Reflectivity
43:This article includes a list of general
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213:Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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622:"Gordon Pettengill - Honors Program"
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561:The invention that changed the world
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359:and a doctorate in physics from the
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514:Gordon Hemenway Pettengill obituary
371:Pettengill began his career at the
308:. He was professor emeritus at the
361:University of California, Berkeley
217:University of California, Berkeley
49:it lacks sufficient corresponding
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811:People from Dedham, Massachusetts
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379:radar for the earliest work in
320:Gordon Pettengill was born in
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336:and his callsign was W1OUN.
806:United States Army soldiers
650:www.messenger-education.org
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481:American Geophysical Union
302:Gordon Hemenway Pettengill
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559:Robert., Buderi (1998).
477:Charles A. Whitten Medal
316:Early life and education
248:Charles A. Whitten Medal
182:Providence, Rhode Island
593:"Alumni Mentors Iguana"
64:more precise citations.
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686:Cite journal requires
483:in 1997. The asteroid
373:MIT Lincoln Laboratory
201:Concord, Massachusetts
107:contains wording that
530:www.belmont.k12.ma.us
330:Dedham, Massachusetts
227:Guggenheim Fellowship
791:Amateur radio people
776:American astronomers
487:is named after him.
431:Haystack Observatory
168:Gordon H. Pettengill
111:the subject through
18:Gordon H. Pettengill
456:orbiter and later,
439:Arecibo Observatory
408:Arecibo Observatory
367:Career and research
736:2012-09-27 at the
563:. London: Abacus.
471:Awards and honours
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234:Magellanic Premium
117:unnoteworthy facts
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756:1926 births
597:web.mit.edu
475:He won the
412:Puerto Rico
193:May 8, 2021
132:August 2012
70:August 2012
62:introducing
750:Categories
655:2018-08-08
631:2018-07-18
602:2018-08-07
570:0349110689
540:2018-08-08
501:References
357:Los Alamos
322:Providence
174:1926-02-10
45:references
479:from the
390:Mariner 2
363:in 1955.
306:astronomy
734:Archived
579:60184621
458:Magellan
109:promotes
435:Cornell
416:Mercury
385:Sputnik
122:Please
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265:Thesis
251:(1997)
244:(1995)
237:(1994)
230:(1980)
223:Awards
203:, U.S.
184:, U.S.
47:, but
462:Venus
450:Venus
394:Venus
692:help
575:OCLC
565:ISBN
443:Mars
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190:Died
164:Born
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