Local astronomer wins national Sagan Award

William Hartmann, a senior scientist at Tucson's Planetary Science Institute, received the Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society Division of the Planetary Science Institute.

"It's really quite moving, because I knew Carl personally as a friend," Hartmann said. The award was established in memory of the late scientist this summer.

"What I noticed from Carl through our friendship was his keen interest in scientific civility. In a lot of fields there's cut-throat competition, but Carl always reminded us that we are all in space exploration together," he added.

Hartmann maintains an association with the University of Arizona Steward Observatory, where he is an affiliate faculty member and occasionally does research with the Kitt-Peak telescope. He is currently collaborating with UA astronomy professor Chris Impe y, on a new book.

"We're going to try to write this astronomy book with a humanities flavor, which is unusual in the field," Impey said of the introductory astronomy book for non-science majors.

Hartmann also wrote a book, entitled Mars Underground, released last summer, but it is his scientific research on the origin of the moon that spurred the award.

"The theory is that the moon formed from a mixture of gases and debris left over from the formation of the earth," Hartmann said, adding he is now involved with the Mars Global Surveyor project, an unmanned robotic probe, launched last summer to the red p lanet.

"The goal is to get more detailed chemical and geological information about Mars," Hartmann said.

As an astronomer and humanities specialist, Hartmann said he realizes the difficulty of relaying complex space data to the public.

"I've been thinking about the Sagan Award a lot and I think we should back off from being too detailed about simple first order questions," he said.

"I try to think of what kind of questions a 10-year-old asks, and as a scientist tries to back off from the frontier, and start addressing questions that the public can comprehend," he added.

Hartmann said the public would be served by more science journalism.

"There's a lot of room for science journalism now: it's sort of like a vacuum," Hartmann said.

One year from now at the next AASD meeting, Hartmann will receive an official certificate, cash prize and the inaugural inscription on the Sagan Award.