Best known for his role as project scientist for NASA's Voyager mission from 1972 to 2022.
Born in Knoxville, Iowa during the Great Depression. Studied physics at Burlington Junior College and University of Chicago.
Edward C. Stone passed away on June 9, 2024, at the age of 88.
Leadership led to discovery of active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and rich atmosphere on Saturn's moon Titan.
Received numerous awards including National Medal of Science and Shaw Prize in Astronomy.
Voyager mission marked significant milestone in space exploration with visits to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Edward C. Stone, a renowned physicist and former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), passed away on June 9, 2024, at the age of 88. Stone was best known for his role as project scientist for NASA's groundbreaking Voyager mission from 1972 until his retirement in 2022.
The Voyager mission marked a significant milestone in space exploration, with the probes visiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Stone's leadership led to the discovery of active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and an atmosphere rich with organic molecules on Saturn's moon Titan.
Born in Knoxville, Iowa during the Great Depression, Stone studied physics at Burlington Junior College before joining the University of Chicago for graduate school. Throughout his distinguished career, he received numerous awards including the National Medal of Science from President George H.W. Bush and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy with an award of $1.2 million.
Stone's impact on space exploration extended beyond JPL, as he also served as director from 1991 to 2001, during which time the lab was responsible for over two dozen missions and science instruments including NASA's Pathfinder mission and the NASA-ESA Cassini/Huygens mission.
Stone is survived by his two daughters, Susan and Janet Stone, and two grandsons.
Edward C. Stone, Caltech’s David Morrisroe Professor of Physics, Emeritus passed away on June 9.
Stone oversaw the construction of the W. M. Keck Observatory and established the Institute’s Space Radiation Lab.
Best known for his role as project scientist for NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft.
Voyager made the first encounter with volcanism outside Earth in 1979 and both spacecraft crossed into interstellar space in 2012 and 2018 respectively.
Stone oversaw 21 different missions and instruments at JPL including Mars Pathfinder Soujourner rover, the first wheeled vehicle to operate on another planet.
Ed Stone, a physicist and the director of JPL, died at the age of 88 on Tuesday.
He was instrumental in discoveries that revolutionized scientists’ understanding of the solar system.
Stone served as chief scientist for NASA’s Voyager mission from 1972 to 1989.
Voyager made the first discovery of lightning on Jupiter and volcanoes on its moon Io.
The discoveries made by Stone and his team included six never-before-seen moons around Saturn, evidence of the largest ocean in the solar system on Jupiter’s moon Europa, and geysers on Neptune’s moon Triton.
Stone retired from JPL in 2022 on the mission’s 50th anniversary.
He was born in Iowa and studied physics at Burlington Junior College, the University of Chicago, and Caltech.
Edward C. Stone, former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and longtime project scientist of the Voyager mission, passed away on June 9, 2024.
Stone served as the project scientist for NASA’s longest-running mission, Voyager, from 1972 until his retirement in 2022.
Voyager probes visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune and revealed first active volcanoes beyond Earth on Jupiter’s moon Io and an atmosphere rich with organic molecules on Saturn’s moon Titan.
Stone was born in Knoxville, Iowa during the Great Depression and studied physics at Burlington Junior College before joining the University of Chicago for graduate school.
Among his many awards is the National Medal of Science from President George H.W. Bush and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy with an award of $1.2 million.
Stone served as JPL’s director from 1991 to 2001, during which time JPL was responsible for more than two dozen missions and science instruments including NASA’s Pathfinder mission and the NASA-ESA Cassini/Huygens mission.
Edward C. Stone, former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and longtime project scientist of the agency’s Voyager mission, died on June 9, 2024.
Stone took the lead in tailoring the peer-review process to the faster pace of the mission’s planetary encounters, using a collaborative approach to interpret data and make discoveries public.
Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to fly by Uranus and Neptune, revealing Uranus’s unusual tipped magnetic poles and the icy geysers erupting from Neptune’s moon Triton.
Stone joined a team at the University of Chicago that was building science instruments to launch into space, designing his first instrument that rode aboard Discoverer 36, a since-declassified spy satellite.
Among Stone’s many awards, the National Medal of Science from President George H.W. Bush and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy stand out.
In 2019 he won the Shaw Prize in Astronomy, with an award of $1.2 million, for his leadership in the Voyager project.
Stone was also proud to have a middle school named after him in Burlington, Iowa.
