Purdue News
Purdue News
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August 18, 2000 Galileo scientist to talk on 'The Moons of Jupiter'WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Galileo project scientist Torrence Johnson will visit Purdue University to present images and information gathered from the Galileo spacecraft's mission to the planet Jupiter. His public talk will be held at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31 in Room 104 of the Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry. In his talk, called "The Moons of Jupiter: Weird Chemistry or Just Weird Chemists?" Johnson will focus on Jupiter's four largest moons, called the Galilean satellites after Galileo Galilei who discovered them in 1610. These moons, named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, have captured the interest of scientists and the public because each has its own distinction in our solar system. Io, for example, is the most active volcanic body in the solar system. The Galileo project, whose primary mission is the exploration of the Jupiter system, is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Johnson, a senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has studied planetary science for more than 30 years. He served as a team member of the Voyager Imaging Science Team and the Cassini Imaging Science team, and as co-investigator for the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Project. In 1990, asteroid 2216 was named "Torrence" in recognition of his contributions to asteroid science. Johnson's talk is sponsored by the Chemistry Graduate Student Advisory Board. CONTACT: Jon Friedrich, Department of Chemistry, (765) 494-5497, fried@purdue.edu.
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