Michael James Gaffey
{{Short description|American planetary scientist (born 1945)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Michael J. Gaffey
| image =
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| birth_name=
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|12|1|mf=y}}
| birth_place = {{nowrap|Meadville, Pennsylvania, U.S.}}
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| fields = planetary science
| workplaces = University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy
Hawaii Institute of Geophysics
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of North Dakota
| alma_mater = University of Iowa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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| awards = G.K. Gilbert Award, Leonard Medal
| website = [http://space.edu/People/Staff/Gaffey.aspx space.edu]
}}
Michael James Gaffey (born December 1, 1945) is a planetary scientist who specializes in deriving the mineralogies of asteroids from their reflectance spectra.
Biography
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in geology from the University of Iowa and his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in planetary science graduating in 1974. From 1974 to 1977, he worked as a Post-doc in the Planetary Astronomy Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After leaving Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he worked as a researcher at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaiʻi from 1977 to 1979 and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics from 1979 to 1984. From 1984 to 2001, he taught in the geology department of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is currently a professor at the University of North Dakota in the Space Studies department.
Honors
In 2006 he received both the Leonard Medal from the Meteoritical Society and the G. K. Gilbert Award from the Planetary Science division of the Geological Society of America.[http://www2.und.edu/our/news/print_news.php?id=1775 03/30/06 UND’s Mike Gaffey Earns Two Top Space Science Awards: Like Getting Oscar, Golden Globe In One Year; Gala Celebration Is April 7] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625223327/http://www2.und.edu/our/news/print_news.php?id=1775 |date=2010-06-25 }} retrieved 19 December 2009 Asteroid 3545 Gaffey is also named in his honor.
References
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Category:University of North Dakota faculty
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty
Category:American planetary scientists
Category:Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii) people
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