William Kenneth Hartmann


William Kenneth Hartmann is a noted planetary scientist, artist, author, and writer. He was the first to convince the scientific mainstream that the Earth had once been hit by a planet sized body, creating both the Moon and the Earth's 23.5° tilt.

Early life and education

Hartmann was born in Pennsylvania in 1939. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Pennsylvania State University, and both a Master of Science degree in geology and Doctor of Philosophy in astronomy from the University of Arizona.

Career

Hartmann's career spans over 40 years, from work in the early 1960s with Gerard Kuiper on Mare Orientale, and work on the Mariner 9 Mars mapping project, to current work on the Mars Global Surveyor imaging team. He is currently a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute.
He has long been one of America's leading space artists, and has written and illustrated numerous books on the history of Earth and the Solar System, often in collaboration with artist Ron Miller.
Hartmann is a Fellow of the International Association of Astronomical Artists. His written work also includes textbooks, short fiction, and novels, the most recent being published in 2003. In 1997 he was the first recipient of the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science from the American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Sciences.
Hartmann was a member of the 1966–1968 University of Colorado UFO Project, a controversial public study of UFOs sponsored by the U.S. Air Force. He primarily investigated photographic evidence, and rejected most as unreliable or inconclusive; in his studies published in the Committee's final report, he concluded two cases - Great Falls and McMinnville - were unexplained and particularly noteworthy as probative evidence of the reality of UFOs.
Asteroid 3341 Hartmann is named after him.