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  Brad Smith, Voyager imaging lead (1931-2018)

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Author Topic:   Brad Smith, Voyager imaging lead (1931-2018)
Robert Pearlman
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posted 07-03-2018 12:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Carolyn Porco shared on Facebook the news that Bradford Smith, the leader of the Voyager Imaging Team, died on Tuesday (July 3). He was 86.
Though Brad was never a person to boast loudly of his own accomplishments, as the leader of the Voyager imaging team — his most renowned role in planetary exploration, though he had many others — he was very much responsible for the success of the Voyager imaging experiment and, in turn, for the public's fond perception of the Voyager mission.

Brad was one of few who had the foresight to recognize the satellites and, later, the rings of the outer planets would be as fascinating as the planets themselves, and the need for a high resolution imaging capability to address both. These realizations drove him to insist on a change in the optics of the Voyager cameras and to hand-appoint to the original NASA-selected imaging team additional scientists with expertise in geology and planetary rings, as well as those directly involved in ground-based studies of the bodies that Voyager would visit. Many of us involved in Voyager and subsequently chosen for the Cassini mission were among those added to the Voyager imaging team by Brad.

He was also a visionary. He made a point to invite scientists from other countries onto the imaging team for the Neptune encounter, notably Andre Brahic from France and Sasha Basilevsky from the Soviet Union. The latter was a stunning international gesture, considering that the Cold War had not yet ended. I recall it was Sasha who proclaimed that the surface of Triton was like frozen Vodka!

He was also the one who imaged the dust disk around the star Beta Pictoris, the first visual confirmation of an extrasolar disk.

Brad was consequential in ways that few appreciate. The work of planetary explorers over the last 30 years, and I personally, owe a great deal to his vision, groundwork, encouragement and support.

He will be remembered.

1202 Alarm
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Jeff
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David C
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capoetc
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randy
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Jurg Bolli
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Rick Mulheirn
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SkyMan1958
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ManInSpace
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Panther494
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star51L
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alcyone
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oly
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Headshot
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Kevin T. Randall
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Blackarrow
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posted 07-04-2018 06:59 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A long life well lived, and a magnificent legacy. He will indeed be remembered.

ringo67
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YankeeClipper
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Gilbert
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fredtrav
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David Carey
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jasonelam
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Philip
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MB
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RobertB
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