Ian P. Griffin
Dr. Ian P. Griffin is the British CEO of Science Oxford, in Oxford, UK. He is the former head of public outreach at NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute. Griffin is a professional astronomer and public spokesman upon scientific matters.
Biographical information
Griffin began his professional life at University College London where he decided to pursue a career combining both astronomical research and public outreach. He was director of the Armagh Planetarium from 1990 to 1995. He then worked at The Astronaut Memorial Planetarium at Brevard Community College in the USA and Auckland Observatory in New Zealand before accepting the position as head of public outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, USA.[1]
From 2004 to 2007 Griffin was director of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.[2]
Significant achievements
In his time at Space Telescope, Griffin contributed to the observation and study of a scientifically significant binary asteroid system, known as 1998 WW31.[3] This was only the second such binary system discovered in the Kuiper Belt (the other being the Pluto and Charon system) and provided valuable data helping astronomers understand the mass and behaviour of objects in the Kuiper Belt.[4] Griffin is also the discoverer and is responsible for naming of a number of main belt asteroids including 10924 (Mariagriffin), 23990 (Springsteen) and 33179 (Arsenewenger) via search programmes using small telescopes.
References
- ^ Trifourki, Sotira (Manchester Astronomical Society) (2005). "Observing Solar System Objects with the Hubble Space Telescope" (http). Retrieved 18 January.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Ottewell, David (14 January 2004). "Science museum lands space ace". Manchester News.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Christian Veillet, Joel Wm. Parker; et al. (2002). "The binary Kuiper-belt object 1998 WW31" (PDF). Nature. 416 (18 April 2002): 711–713. doi:10.1038/416711a.
{{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|author=(help) - ^ "Hubble Hunts Down Binary Objects at the Fringe of Our Solar System" (Press release). NASA STSci. April 17 2002.
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